impenitent

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Not penitent; specifically (Christianity), not repenting of one's sins; unrepentant.

   [I]f they mende and repente better, will in ſtede of purgatorye which they nowe mocke & ieſte at, wepe and repent in hell this fooliſh fruitleſſe faſhion of their impenitent repentance.

2. 2
   noun

   One who is not penitent.

   For as for the firſt kynde of eleccion, after whiche, Chriſte hathe choſen bys catholike churche out of the Jewes and Gentiles, to be his church here in earth: in thys kynde are there penitentes and impenitentes bothe.

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English impenitent (“not penitent, unrepentant”), from Latin impaenitentem, the accusative feminine or masculine singular of impaenitēns (“unrepentant”), from im- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + paenitēns (“contrite, penitent, regretting, repenting”) (the present active participle of paeniteō (“to be sorry, regret; to cause to repent; to repent”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate; to hurt”)). By surface analysis, im- + penitent. The noun is derived from the adjective.

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