penitentiary

American  

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

noun

• penitentiaries
  plural

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.

---

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

---

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.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• penitentiaries
  plural

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

See Examples For:

penitentiary penitentiaries

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

Under Georgia's new penitentiary code, which came into force in January last year, inmates "have the right to fresh air at least one hour on a daily basis", it said.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2025

Several defense attorneys filed court declarations describing meetings and conference calls with Christopher Synsvoll, a Bureau of Prisons attorney based at the Florence penitentiary who served as liaison to the inmates’ lawyers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2025

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

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

Time served for the state convictions will run at the same time as the federal sentences, and the men will serve their time in federal penitentiaries.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 9, 2024

Right now, there are approximately 2,400 prisoners in US penitentiaries on death row.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2023

A Mexican national, Madrigal served a 77-month sentence for illegally reentering the country at federal penitentiaries in Victorville and Leavenworth, Kan., law enforcement records show.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2023

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, more than 1 million people are held in state penitentiaries, of which 71% will be re-arrested within three to five years after committing additional offenses.

From Reuters ● Aug. 2, 2023

That has been true since penitentiaries first opened in America.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• lockup
• prison