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PENITENT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(Roman Catholic Church) a person who repents for wrongdoing (a Roman Catholic may be admitted to penance under the direction of a confessor)
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("penitent" is a kind of...):
religious person (a person who manifests devotion to a deity)
Domain category:
Church of Rome; Roman Catholic; Roman Catholic Church; Roman Church; Western Church (the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "penitent"):
flagellant (a person who whips himself as a religious penance)
Derivation:
penitent (feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds
Synonyms:
penitent; repentant
Classified under:
Similar:
contrite; remorseful; rueful; ruthful (feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses)
penitential; penitentiary (showing or constituting penance)
Also:
ashamed (feeling shame or guilt or embarrassment or remorse)
bad; regretful; sorry (feeling or expressing regret or sorrow or a sense of loss over something done or undone)
Antonym:
impenitent (not penitent or remorseful)
Derivation:
penitence (remorse for your past conduct)
penitent ((Roman Catholic Church) a person who repents for wrongdoing (a Roman Catholic may be admitted to penance under the direction of a confessor))
Context examples:
"Yes, please, but I never will again," and he went down upon his knees, with a penitent clasping of hands, and a face full of mischief, mirth, and triumph.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The wicked wolf that for half a day had paralysed London and set all the children in the town shivering in their shoes, was there in a sort of penitent mood, and was received and petted like a sort of vulpine prodigal son.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
But as the meek and lowly at the penitent form catch splendid glimpses of their future lordly existence, so did he catch similar glimpses of the state he would gain to by possessing her.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“Oh dear, yes, sir!” cried this hopeful penitent.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
When they were called in, Laurie was standing by their mother with such a penitent face that Jo forgave him on the spot, but did not think it wise to betray the fact.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
As to the washerwoman pawning the clothes, and coming in a state of penitent intoxication to apologize, I suppose that might have happened several times to anybody.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
That will do him good, and he'll come home in such a tender, penitent state of mind, that I shan't dare to see him, she said, adding, as she went slowly home, feeling as if she had murdered some innocent thing, and buried it under the leaves.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
On the commission he is, at any rate, said I. And he writes to me here, that he will be glad to show me, in operation, the only true system of prison discipline; the only unchallengeable way of making sincere and lasting converts and penitents—which, you know, is by solitary confinement.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
In a minute a hand came down over the page, so that she could not draw, and Laurie's voice said, with a droll imitation of a penitent child, "I will be good, oh, I will be good!"
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Very precious to Jo was the friendship of the lads, their penitent sniffs and whispers after wrongdoing, their droll or touching little confidences, their pleasant enthusiasms, hopes, and plans, even their misfortunes, for they only endeared them to her all the more.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
