penitentiary

American  

[pen-i-ten-shuh-ree] / ˌpɛn ɪˈtɛn ʃə ri /

noun

plural

penitentiaries

1. 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.

2. 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.

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adjective

1. (of an offense) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary.

2. of, relating to, or intended for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment.

3. penitential.

penitentiary British  

/ ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃərɪ /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: pen.  (in the US and Canada) a state or federal prison: in Canada, esp a federal prison for offenders convicted of serious crimes

2. RC Church

   1. a cleric appointed to supervise the administration of the sacrament of penance in a particular area

   2. a priest who has special faculties to absolve particularly grave sins

   3. a cardinal who presides over a tribunal that decides all matters affecting the sacrament of penance

   4. this tribunal itself

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adjective

1. another word for penitential

2. (of an offence) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary

Usage

What does penitentiary mean? A penitentiary is a prison, especially a state or federal prison in the United States or Canada.Penitentiaries typically house criminals who have committed major crimes. The word is often used in formal contexts. In less formal and slang usage, it is often shortened to pen or the pen, such as in the phrase state pen (a penitentiary run by a state government, as opposed to the federal government). It is sometimes used as an adjective describing related things.Less commonly, the word is used as the name of a special type of Roman Catholic tribunal.Example: If convicted, your client is facing a life sentence in a federal penitentiary.

Etymology

Origin of penitentiary

1375–1425; late Middle English penitenciarie priest who administers penance, prison < Medieval Latin pēnitēntiārius of penance. See penitence, -ary

Example Sentences

Early last year, prison officials transferred Hernández out of the federal detention center in Brooklyn, which largely holds pretrial detainees, and sent him to the high-security Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia.

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026

Last year, he began serving a 14-year-sentence for graft, joining two other former presidents behind bars at a special penitentiary for ex-leaders east of Lima.

From Barron's • Feb. 17, 2026

In it, the special agent in charge recounts an interview done with one of Ray’s cellmates in the Missouri penitentiary who reported Ray having said to him:

From Slate • Dec. 1, 2025

Combs is currently incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Fort Dixon, a New Jersey low-security federal penitentiary.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2025

Doug Swieteck’s brother and the state penitentiary crowd were looking down at me.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• lockup
• prison