Penance1. (n.) A means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression. Penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church.
2. (n.) Repentance.
3. (n.) Pain; sorrow; suffering.
4. (v. t.) To impose penance; to punish.
Thesaurus Entries
Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, abject apology, amends, apology, asceticism, atone, atonement, attrition, baptism, change of heart, cold purgatorial fires, compensation, compunction, confirmation, contrition, deathbed repentance, do penance, extreme unction, fasting, flagellation, hair shirt, heartfelt apology, holy orders, lustration, maceration, make amends, matrimony, mea culpa, mortification, pay, penal retribution, penalization, penalty, penitence, penitential act, penitential exercise, penitently, price, punishment, purgation, purgatory, reformation, regret, remorse, remorsefulness, reparation, repentance, rue, ruth, sackcloth and ashes, saeta, self-mortification, self-punishment, seven sacraments, suffer, suffering, the Eucharist, wearing a hairshirt