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

Explanation

A penitentiary is a prison for big-time criminals convicted of big-time crimes. Commit a serious crime like a murder and you won't just go to jail; you'll be sent to the penitentiary. Penitentiary comes from the Latin paenitentia, meaning "repentance." A penitentiary is a place you are sent to make repentance for a crime committed. Penitentiary can also be used as an adjective to describe something done to show penance, as in the penitentiary scarlet "A" on Hester Prynne's chest. In the Roman Catholic Church, a penitentiary is a priest who administers the sacrament of penance, or hears people's confessions.

Example Sentences

The government opened the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz in 1934, hoping to use the remote island to house particularly difficult prisoners, according to the National Park Service.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026

At least 30 prisoners were released Monday from the Rodeo I penitentiary east of Caracas to scenes of joy from waiting relatives.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

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

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

It’s bad enough that the great city of San Francisco should suffer the indignity of a maximum security federal penitentiary in its midst without being subject to these sorts of sick and dangerous shenanigans.

From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko

Related Words

• lockup
• prison