penitence

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pen=i=tence

CIDE DICTIONARY

penitence, n. [F. pénitence, L. paenitentia. See Penitent, and cf. Penance.].

 The quality or condition of being penitent; the disposition of a penitent; sorrow for sins or faults; repentance; contrition.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
"Death is deferred, and penitenance has room
To mitigate, if not reverse, the doom."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Repentance; contrition; compunction.

THESAURUS

penitence

Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, abject apology, acknowledgment, anguish, apology, asceticism, attrition, breast-beating, change of heart, cold purgatorial fires, compunction, confession, contriteness, contrition, deathbed repentance, debasement, degradation, distress, excuse, fasting, flagellation, grief, hair shirt, heartfelt apology, humbling, humiliation, lustration, maceration, mea culpa, mortification, penance, penitential act, penitential exercise, penitently, purgation, purgatory, qualm, reformation, regret, regretfulness, regrets, remorse, remorsefulness, repentance, rue, ruefulness, ruth, sackcloth and ashes, sadness, saeta, scruple, self-accusation, self-punishment, self-reproach, shame, sorrow, sorrowfulness, wearing a hairshirt

ROGET THESAURUS

penitence

Regret

N regret, repining, homesickness, nostalgia, mal du pays, maladie, lamentation, penitence, bitterness, heartburning, recrimination (accusation), laudator temporis acti, regretting, regretful, homesick, regretted, much to be regretted, regrettable, lamentable, regrettably, unfortunately, most unfortunately, Int, alas!, what a pity!, hang it!, 'tis pity, 'tis too true, sigh'd and look'd and sigh'd again, I'm sorry.

Penitence

N penitence, contrition, compunction, repentance, remorse, regret, self-reproach, self-reproof, self-accusation, self-condemnation, self-humiliation, stings of conscience, pangs of conscience, qualms of conscience, prickings of conscience, twinge of conscience, twitch of conscience, touch of conscience, voice of conscience, compunctious visitings of nature, acknowledgment, confession, apology, recantation, penance, resipiscence, awakened conscience, deathbed repentance, locus paenitentiae, stool of repentance, cuttystool, penitent, repentant, Magdalen, prodigal son, a sadder and a wiser man, penitent, repenting, repentant, contrite, conscience- smitten, conscience-stricken, self-accusing, self-convicted, penitential, penitentiary, reclaimed, reborn, not hardened, unhardened, mea culpa, peccavi, erubuit, salva res est, Tu l'as voulu, Georges Dandin, and wet his grave with my repentant tears.