a punishment undergone in token of penitence for sin.
2.
a penitential discipline imposed by church authority.
3.
a sacrament, as in the Roman Catholic Church, consisting in a confession of sin, made with sorrow and with the intention of amendment, followed by the forgiveness of the sin.
He will do penance by resigning from his cushy job and working in a slum.
He paused and told the students about pilgrimages for purposes of penance.
There are days on the Peninsula when the heat and humidity make the slightest body movement seem like a penance.
Laying himself this bare feels like an act of penance for surviving, and makes his character all the richer.
After the exuberant party must come the austerity, also as some sort of penance.
This was not a gift; it was penance.
The unspoken penance will suffice.
This was his penance, a chance to show he was worthy of a do-over.
Don't make their penance any harder on them than it needs to be.
penance is central to punishment, and he had served only one year.
British Dictionary definitions for penance
penance
/ˈpɛnəns/
noun
1.
voluntary self-punishment to atone for a sin, crime, etc
2.
a feeling of regret for one's wrongdoings
3.
(Christianity)
a punishment usually consisting of prayer, fasting, etc, undertaken voluntarily as an expression of penitence for sin
a punishment of this kind imposed by church authority as a condition of absolution
verb
4.
(transitive) (of ecclesiastical authorities) to impose a penance upon (a sinner)
Word Origin
C13: via Old French from Latin paenitentia repentance; related to Latin poena penalty
Word Origin and History for penance
n.
late 13c., "religious discipline or self-mortification as a token of repentance and as atonement for some sin," from Anglo-French penaunce, Old French peneance (12c.), from Latin pænitentia (see penitence). Transferred sense is recorded from c.1300.