penitent
4
7.1
- adjective
- /ˈpɛnɪtənt/
:
arrepentido
- After realizing her mistake, she felt truly penitent for the hurt she caused.
- penitent privilege
Examples
-
Good Friday is, for Christians, one of the most important and penitent days of the year.
Blog text (22) -
I'm penitent, Father.
-
Do not try and impress me, please, by looking either too penitent or too proud.
-
In their presence, she became calm and penitent, open to the ministrations of grace.
Fiction book (2000) -
The Guardian of Paradise will allow access only to those who are humble and penitent.
Blog text (20) -
And now you must pray God to take away your heart of stone... and make you meek and humble and penitent.
-
I promise I'm penitent.
-
An indulgence offers the penitent sinner the means of discharging this debt during his life on earth.
Blog text (20) -
Lord, you who can turn the shadow of death... ...into the light of a new day... ...as we gather to commend Dean into your hands... ...help us to wait upon thee with penitent hearts... ...and remind us of he who died that we might live.
-
I earnestly entreat, nay, upon my knees I ask your forgiveness... if you could but see how wretched I am, how penitent for all my transgressions, you would, I think, be inclined to pardon me....
Academic text (1996)
Synonyms
18
4.6
Feeling very sorry for doing something that hurt someone
8
4.8
Feeling sorry about something you did and wanting to make it right
1
9.9
Showing sorrow and regret for doing something wrong
Antonyms
Compounds
How Penitent
Surface Forms
Morphology
penitent = penit + ent
Although the form contains the Latin stem 'penit-' plus the adjectival suffix '-ent', the stem 'penit-' is not a productive or standalone English base and the word is historically borrowed, so learners cannot reliably derive the meaning from its visible parts.
Etymology
Penitent comes from the same old Latin root paenitere, which means 'to feel sorry' or 'to repent'. So, when someone looks penitent, they show regret and a wish to make things right.