penitentiary
/ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃəɹi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.18 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
5
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A priest in the Roman Catholic Church who administers the sacrament of penance.
noun
An office of the papal court which examines cases of conscience, confession, absolution from vows, etc., and delivers decisions, dispensations, etc.; run by a cardinal called the Grand Penitentiary who is appointed by the pope.
Obsolete
noun
An officer in some dioceses since 1215, vested with power from the bishop to absolve in cases reserved to him.
Obsolete
adj
Of or relating to penance; penitential.
Example Sentences
- "For quotations using this term, see Citations:penitentiary."
- "The Race of this Warre fell vpon the losse of Vrbin it selfe, which was the Dukes vndoubted Right; Yet in this case, no Penitentiary, (though hee had enioyned him neuer so strait Penance to expiate his first Offence,) would haue counselled him to haue giuen ouer the pursuit of his Right for Vrbin; Which after he prosperously re-obtained, […]"
- "Topics which a priest may not treat , and which bishops declare are unfit for sacramental confession even in penitentiaries, become , with either public or private approval , the subject - matter of platform speeches"
- "A penitentiary tax."
- "Penitentiary houses."
Etymology
From Middle English penitentiary, from Medieval Latin pēnitentiārius (“place of penitence”), from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”), term used by the Quakers in Pennsylvania during the 1790s, describing a place for penitents to dwell upon their sins.