indulgence

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the remission by the pope of the temporal punishment in purgatory that is still due for sins even after absolution

   in the Middle Ages the unrestricted sale of indulgences by pardoners became a widespread abuse

2. 2
   noun

   a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone

   too much indulgence spoils a child

3. 3
   noun

   The act of indulging.

   will all they that either through indulgence to others or fondness to any sin in themselves, substitute for repentance any thing that is less than a sincere, uniform resolution of new obedience

4. 4
   noun

   A wish or whim satisfied.

   "In other words, the ONLY indulgences we'll be getting for a while is fixing your wardrobe. This means no new manga. No new games. Nothing. Get used to it."

5. 5
   noun

   Something in which someone indulges.

   I made but one error—giving way to petulance in the earlier instance; that lost me the Prince of Conti. Temper is bourgeois indulgence, though I own to a predilection for it.

6. 6
   noun

   An indulgent act; a favour granted; gratification.

   If all these gracious indulgences are without any effect on us, we must perish in our own folly.

7. 7
   noun

   A pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory, after the sinner has been granted absolution.

   To understand how indulgences were intended to work depends on linking together a number of assumptions about sin and the afterlife, each of which individually makes considerable sense.

8. 8
   noun

   foolish or senseless behavior

Etymology

From Middle English indulgence, indulgens, from Middle French indulgence and its source, Latin indulgentia.