penitentiary
[pen-i-ten-shuh-ree]
- 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.
- Roman Catholic Church. 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.
Origin of penitentiary
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for penitentiary
Contemporary Examples
The method would come to be known as “The Pennsylvania System” and the institution “a penitentiary.”
Philadelphia coined the term ‘penitentiary’—and set the tone for prison reform.
Walking past a large data center building, painted yellow like a penitentiary, I asked what went on inside.
“I rediscovered my own humanity in the penitentiary,” he admits.
Ex-Prisoners Say Life Term Is Cruel for Teens, As Case Hits High CourtSandra McElwaine
March 19, 2012
The Mexican Mafia run their empire from the penitentiary to the streets of LA.
Historical Examples
Were they all mad—was he not standing with one foot in the penitentiary?
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
He is to be beaten, understand, if we have to send him to the penitentiary on an old issue to do it.
The Gentleman From IndianaBooth Tarkington
But the ‘strays’ are ‘crooks,’ and their homes the penitentiary.
The Law-BreakersRidgwell Cullum
By his own admission he was against the law, a “crook,” and—the penitentiary was looming.
The Law-BreakersRidgwell Cullum
“If all we hear is true, his end will be the penitentiary,” she declared with decision.
The Law-BreakersRidgwell Cullum
penitentiary
- (in the US and Canada) a state or federal prison: in Canada, esp a federal prison for offenders convicted of serious crimesSometimes shortened to: pen
- 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)
- US and Canadian (of an offence) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary
Word Origin
C15 (meaning also: an officer dealing with penances): from Medieval Latin poenitēntiārius, from Latin paenitēns penitent
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for penitentiary
n.
early 15c., "place of punishment for offenses against the church," from Medieval Latin penitentiaria, from fem. of penitentiarius (adj.) "of penance," from Latin paenitentia "penitence" (see penitence). Meaning "house of correction" (originally an asylum for prostitutes) is from 1806, short for penitentiary house (1776). Slang shortening pen is attested from 1884.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper