penance

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His penance is to “pass, like night, from land to land,” repeating his story: “And till my ghastly tale is told, / This heart within me burns.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

Williams’ Anna absorbs his fury as though it were the penance she herself would mete out for her sins.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025

Somewhere deep in the wiring, there was still this belief that a salad, no matter how decadent, was supposed to be a kind of penance.

From Salon • May 19, 2025

Mr Sloan said he later built the cathedral at Inch Abbey as "an act of penance" and made that into a Cistercian monastery.

From BBC • Apr. 20, 2025

He knew there was no penance Father Mulrooney could demand that would ease the guilt he felt, but he didn’t care.

From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer