penance
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“I write to make amends,” she reflects, describing a lifetime of studying Cuba as a kind of penance for what she calls being “the chosen one” that spring day in 1963.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
Islamic fasting is oriented toward submission to divine will, while Christian penance is animated by gratitude for the incarnate God who suffered, died and rose again for the salvation of humanity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
His penance is to “pass, like night, from land to land,” repeating his story: “And till my ghastly tale is told, / This heart within me burns.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
Concluding that Didion left these pages behind so they would eventually take shape as the penance of an unreliable narrator is surely too tidy.
From Salon • Jun. 14, 2025
She was going to have to do a lot of penance, but she’d helped even the odds a bit in the Dregs’ favor.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Vocabulary lists containing penance
Fahrenheit 451
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The Poet X
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The Joy Luck Club
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