penitential
Showing sorrow sinfully
Penitential describes things relating to penance or the expression of remorse for wrongdoing.
A penitential prayer seeks forgiveness.
A penitential posture—head bowed, hands clasped—signals contrition.
The word carries religious overtones, evoking confession and atonement: The congregation observed a penitential silence.
Redress for offense
- propitiationAct of placating deity
- reparationCompensation for injury done
- restitutionRestoring what was lost
- amendsCompensation for wrongdoing
satisfaction · sacrifice · mortification · self-denial · fasting · flagellation · sackcloth · ashes
Deliberate food avoidance
- mortificationIntense shame or embarrassment
- flagellationBeating with a whip
- prostrationUtter physical or mental depletion
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
self-denial · vigil · asceticism · austerity · self-punishment · deprivation · scourging · kneeling
Remorseful state over misdeeds
- compunctionUneasiness from guilt
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- regretSorrow over past actions
self-reproach · sorrow · anguish · pangs · lamentation · grief · self-accusation · heartache
Absolution from sin
- confessionalBooth for admitting sins
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
- disclosureAct of revealing information
- admissionEntry or confession
acknowledgment · unburdening · sacrament · priest · reconciliation · forgiveness · pardon · sins
expiation
Redress for offense
- propitiationAct of placating deity
- reparationCompensation for injury done
- restitutionRestoring what was lost
amends · satisfaction · sacrifice · mortification · self-denial · fasting · flagellation · sackcloth · ashes · hair shirt
fasting
Deliberate food avoidance
- mortificationIntense shame or embarrassment
- flagellationBeating with a whip
- prostrationUtter physical or mental depletion
abstinence · self-denial · vigil · asceticism · austerity · self-punishment · deprivation · scourging · kneeling · genuflection
contrition
Remorseful state over misdeeds
- compunctionUneasiness from guilt
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- shamePainful awareness of failure
regret · self-reproach · sorrow · anguish · pangs · lamentation · grief · self-accusation · heartache · rue
shrift
Absolution from sin
- confessionalBooth for admitting sins
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
- disclosureAct of revealing information
admission · acknowledgment · unburdening · sacrament · priest · reconciliation · forgiveness · pardon · sins · confessor
Lent
Christian fasting season
liturgy · prayer · service · season · observance · ritual · vespers · compline · lamentation · supplication
- LentAsh Wednesday, fasting, abstinence, almsgiving, forty days
- Celtic ChurchCeltic cross, round tower, scriptorium, illumination, holy well
- church booksBible, missal, hymnal, missals, prayer book
- Church Textsmissal, breviary, psalter, lectionary, gradual
- liturgical booksbreviary, missal, lectionary, missals, breviaries
- manuscriptscodex, codices, folio, folios, papyri
penitentialimpenitent
Feeling no regret
unrepentant · unapologetic · unremorseful · remorseless · shameless
penitentialself-satisfied
Smugly pleased with oneself
proud · defiant · self-righteous · arrogant · boastful
- state penitentiaryGovernment-run facility for serious offenders
- federal penitentiariesGovernment maximum-security institutions
- penitential psalmsSacred songs expressing remorse