- a place for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment, especially a prison maintained in the U.S. by a state or the federal government for serious offenders.
- a tribunal in the Curia Romana, presided over by a cardinal (grand penitentiary ), having jurisdiction over certain matters, as penance, confession, dispensation, absolution, and impediments, and dealing with questions of conscience reserved for the Holy See.
- (of an offense) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary.
- of, relating to, or intended for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment.
- penitential.
- (in the US and Canada) a state or federal prison: in Canada, esp a federal prison for offenders convicted of serious crimes
- RC Church
- a cleric appointed to supervise the administration of the sacrament of penance in a particular area
- a priest who has special faculties to absolve particularly grave sins
- a cardinal who presides over a tribunal that decides all matters affecting the sacrament of penance
- this tribunal itself
- another word for penitential (def. 1)
- (of an offence) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary
