penitent

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈpɛnɪtənt/ UK /ˈpenɪtənt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
feeling or showing sorrow for wrongdoing

The penitent thief begged forgiveness from the court.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · feeling or showing sorrow... contrite repentant remorseful rueful apologetic sorry

Opposites

impenitent unrepentantunapologeticdefiant

Word family

Forms penitently

Derived forms penitently

Related forms penitence penance repent penitentiary

Etymology

From Old French penitent, from Latin paenitens, present participle of paenitere ('to cause or feel regret').

paenitens Latin paenitere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# penitent

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈpɛnɪtənt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpenɪtənt/

## Meanings
1. feeling or showing sorrow for wrongdoing

## Examples
- The penitent thief begged forgiveness from the court.

## Synonyms
- contrite
- repentant
- remorseful
- rueful
- apologetic
- sorry

## Antonyms
- impenitent
- unrepentant
- unapologetic
- defiant

## Derived Forms
- penitently

## Related Forms
- penitence
- penance
- repent
- penitentiary

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: paenitens
- Root: paenitere

## Etymology
From Old French penitent, from Latin paenitens, present participle of paenitere ('to cause or feel regret').

## AI Etymology
Penitent is from Old French penitent, from Latin paenitens, present participle of paenitere ('to cause or feel regret'). Important recorded forms include paenitens (Latin) and paenitere (Latin). The modern sense follows that older lexical line closely. In current use it covers feeling or showing sorrow for wrongdoing. The wider family includes derived forms such as penitently and related words such as penitence, penance, repent, and penitentiary.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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