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.
Starting in the fourth century, pilgrimages were served up by the church as a way for Christians to pay penance for their sins.
From Los Angeles Times • May 25, 2026
The reader is invited to follow her often frightening pursuit of spiritual penance.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026
A breakfast that feels more like penance than possibility.
From Salon • Mar. 17, 2026
Mr Sloan said he later built the cathedral at Inch Abbey as "an act of penance" and made that into a Cistercian monastery.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2025
The Angel of the candy counter had found me out at last, and was exacting excruciating penance for all the stolen Milky Ways, Mounds, Mr. Goodbars and Her- sheys with Almonds.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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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