Link Centre Dictionary

penitential

pe·ni·ten·tial

UK/ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃəl/ uncommon

adjective

1.

of or relating to penitence or penance

  • “the Day of Atonement is the great penitential day of the Hebrew calendar”
2.

showing or constituting penance

  • “penitential tears”
  • “wrote a penitential letter apologizing for her hasty words”
Similar

Origin

From Medieval Latin paenitentiālis, from Latin paenitentia (“repentance”). Attested since the 16th century.

Related words

Word family

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.