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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
penitent
I.adjective
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Phil was trying hard to look penitent.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ After watching a few more penitent men pass by I was ready to leave.
▪ And he had a notorious asperity for which he was afterwards sometimes penitent.
▪ And to a penitent soldier a crusade was even better than an unarmed pilgrimage.
▪ But Gao Jinjiao was rocking back and forth, bumping against the tree like a penitent little boy.
▪ But the short version points to a promise of progress in experience beyond the stage of penitent sorrow.
▪ He'd have liked to have seen Gina reading one of their notes with a penitent expression.
▪ He inherited a regular staff meeting and was penitent that he had never invented such a meeting in Durham.
▪ There are various Pelagias who are known as penitent harlots or virgin martyrs who died to escape a fate worse than death.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And no penitent in a confessional could have unburdened herself more pathetically than did my Maman that afternoon.
▪ At first they were protected by Catholic rulers, and seen as penitents entitled to alms and succour.
▪ He became so identified with us that he was the perfect penitent and made the perfect confession to the Father for us.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Penitent

Penitent \Pen"i*tent\, a. [F. p['e]nitent, L. paenitens, -entis, poenitens, p. pr. of paenitere, poenitere, to cause to repent, to repent; prob. akin to poena punishment. See Pain.]

  1. Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on amendment of life.

    Be penitent, and for thy fault contrite.
    --Milton.

    The pound he tamed, the penitent he cheered.
    --Dryden.

  2. Doing penance. [Obs.]
    --Shak.

Penitent

Penitent \Pen"i*tent\, n.

  1. One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his transgressions.

  2. One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance.

  3. One under the direction of a confessor.

    Note: Penitents is an appellation given to certain fraternities in Roman Catholic countries, distinguished by their habit, and employed in charitable acts.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
penitent

mid-14c., from Old French pénitent (14c.) and directly from Latin paenitentem (see penitence). As a noun, late 14c., from the adjective.

Wiktionary
penitent

a. 1 Feeling pain or sorrow on account of sins or offenses; repentant; contrite; sincerely affected by a sense of guilt, and resolved on amendment of life. 2 Doing penance. n. 1 One who repents of sin; one sorrowful on account of his or her transgressions. 2 One under church censure, but admitted to penance; one undergoing penance. 3 One under the direction of a confessor.

WordNet
penitent

adj. feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds [syn: repentant] [ant: impenitent, impenitent]

penitent

n. (Roman Catholic Church) a person who repents for wrongdoing (a Roman Catholic may be admitted to penance under the direction of a confessor)

Usage examples of "penitent".

No matter how red the Neon lights glow on Main Street, they cannot rival the horrid hellfire in the chapel of the Antinomians, or the True New Reformed Tabernacle of the Penitent Saints of the Assembly of God, or in most of the brick and gray stone Baptist and Methodist churches that resemble railroad depots of 1890, and he that knows not that encouraging fact has never been west or south of Blawenburg.

The Men of the Tusk hacked the screaming penitents into silence, then they kicked over the tripods, smashed the marmoreal altars, tore the tapestries from the walls and the grand kneeling rugs from the floors.

Ingram, who had voted against Celia and for Montayne at the critical meeting prior to her resignation, had been penitent and uneasy at the time of her return to Felding-Roth.

Old Bailey penitent, I preached up conversion to others, not from a desire of their welfare, but a plaguy sore feeling for my own misfortune.

Hence it is that, in Penance, according to the degree of intensity or remissness in the movement of the free-will, the penitent receives greater or lesser grace.

Humbled by a public confession, emaciated by fasting and clothed in sackcloth, the penitent lay prostrate at the door of the assembly, imploring with tears the pardon of his offences, and soliciting the prayers of the faithful.

They become part of a new sanctuary, in which God is to be worshipped, where the Gospel will be preached, where penitent sinners will find the Christ-Saviour, where sorrowing ones will be comforted.

He intended it to sound penitent, humble even, but it sounded defiant in the befurred room.

His hands and arms and much of his face were stained red from sawing at brazilwood, so that he looked more like a murderer than a penitent in a house of correction.

In order that the intending penitent may look to Him alone, the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, which confirms the remission of sins in those who repent, and does so because everyone is kept looking to the Lord alone in it.

He had been very penitent the night before, and Domini had forgiven easily enough his pre-occupation with Suzanne, who had evidently made a strong impression upon his susceptible nature.

Quedlinhame thronged the streets, falling back as Sanglant advanced in all his penitent splendor.

The Indians were driven off as slaves, and the Mamelucos, with their usual sense of humour, attended Mass as penitents on Christmas Day, with candles in their hands, and listened to the sermon in an edifying way.

And then this sacrament perfects the effects of Penance, as of Baptism: because by the grace which he has received in this sacrament, the penitent will obtain fuller remission of his sin.

Eucharist the priest perfects the sacrament by merely pronouncing the words over the matter, so the mere words which the priest while absolving pronounces over the penitent perfect the sacrament of absolution.