How to Use penitent in a Sentence

penitent

1 of 2 adjective
  • But with Cash on the vocals, the song and the man singing are nearly penitent.
    — Stephanie Kaloi, EW.com, 16 Dec. 2022
  • But with Cash on the vocals, the song and the man singing are nearly penitent.
    — Stephanie Kaloi, EW.com, 16 Dec. 2022
  • But with Cash on the vocals, the song and the man singing are nearly penitent.
    — Stephanie Kaloi and James Mercadante, EW.com, 21 Dec. 2024
  • There’s been nothing penitent or muted about Cousins this year.
    — Nathaniel Friedman, GQ, 30 Jan. 2018
  • With an appropriately penitent look, Grant took a deep breath.
    — Scott Huver, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Darrell Larson portrays him, these many years later, as a penitent figure who might just have some heroism inside.
    — Daryl H. Miller, latimes.com, 15 June 2018
  • Weinstein’s own version tellingly vacillates in tone from the penitent to the petulant.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 5 Oct. 2017
  • Confidential relationships between a priest and a penitent, and a doctor and a patient, and a lawyer and a client.
    — Fox News, 10 Apr. 2018
  • This rule applies, for example, to conversations between a lawyer and a client, between a priest and a penitent, and between a husband and wife.
    — NBC News, 19 Nov. 2019
  • If, for example, the penitent confesses from behind a screen, how can the confessor know for certain who is confessing?
    — Rob Taylor and, WSJ, 3 Aug. 2018
  • Your penitent correspondent humbly submits that the whole ritual has jumped the shark in Northeast Ohio.
    — Sam Allard, Axios, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Ito was penitent in a meeting this week meant to air grievances and begin to heal disagreements, according to a New York Times report.
    — Washington Post, 6 Sep. 2019
  • Even if absolution is denied, though, the exchange between penitent and confessor is to remain confidential.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Aug. 2019
  • Then Morrison introduced a bill to remove clergy-penitent privilege from the state's law on mandatory abuse reporting.
    — Sophie Carson, Journal Sentinel, 24 Mar. 2023
  • Facebook executives did a penitent tour through the halls of media and the Capitol, offering apologies and begging for the public’s forgiveness.
    — Jacob Silverman, Longreads, 2 May 2018
  • However, lawmakers returned six years later to reinstate the clergy-penitent privilege.
    — Arizona Republic, 21 Apr. 2020
  • Her husband’s sudden, violent reaction to the joke, and his subsequent Best Actor speech that bobbed and weaved over the line between defiant and penitent, swallowed the rest of the night whole.
    — Caroline Framke, Variety, 27 Mar. 2022
  • In his speech to the Spanish parliament Monday, Leo framed the right of the church to keep priest-penitent conversations confidential as a matter of freedom of religion.
    — Suman Naishadham, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
  • The Rockets organization was similarly penitent, and rumors began to circulate that Morey, one of the league’s most talented executives, could lose his job.
    — Nathaniel Friedman, The New Republic, 11 Oct. 2019
  • As with McBride’s voice-over, which Pitt delivers in intimate tones — like a lover or penitent whispering confidences in your ear — the helmet alternately reveals and obscures the character, putting the narrative dynamic into visual terms.
    — New York Times, 20 Sep. 2019
  • It is flanked on all sides by footlong rulers (emblazoned, like the yardsticks, with an assortment of penitent phrases including YES, SISTER and NO, SISTER) marking the hours.
    — Alex Jovanovich, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026

penitent

2 of 2 noun
  • Some of the penitents had their backs inflicted with cuts to keep them bloody.
    — Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2018
  • Often the penitents wash up and hastily change back into plain clothes to be able to do it.
    — Text By Gaia Pianigiani, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2017
  • Smith plays Peter as a man of faith, penitent to his god, but defiant of men.
    — Peter Debruge, Variety, 30 Nov. 2022
  • The costumer-confessor and actress-penitent were in a state of hope.
    — New York Times, 4 May 2021
  • Francis journeyed to Iraq not only as a pastor but as a penitent.
    — Victor Gaetan, Foreign Affairs, 12 Mar. 2021
  • The door to one bedroom is an antique three-door confessional — center door for the priest, two side doors for penitents.
    — Judy Rose, Detroit Free Press, 8 July 2017
  • Serious sinners and penitents began a public penance on the first day of Lent.
    — Chris Sims, IndyStar, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Serious sinners and penitents began a public penance on the first day of Lent.
    — Chris Sims, Louisville Courier Journal, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Serious sinners and penitents began a public penance on the first day of Lent.
    — Chris Sims, Louisville Courier Journal, 18 Feb. 2026
  • Francis journeyed to Iraq in the season of Lent not only as a pastor but as a penitent.
    — Victor Gaetan, Foreign Affairs, 12 Mar. 2021
  • The elderly sage was cast as a doleful penitent, making up for youthful indiscretions.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2023
  • Prior to the cross nailings, dozens of male penitents walked several kilometers (miles) along village streets while beating their bare backs with sharp bamboo sticks and pieces of wood.
    — Time, 30 Mar. 2018
  • Some of the penitents flagellated themselves while walking for hours, beseeching the Madonna to heal them or to cure their sick children.
    — Text By Gaia Pianigiani, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2017
  • In the circumstances, Benedict’s plea for forgiveness—penitent in mood but not in substance—models a way of doing things that should be left behind.
    — Paul Elie, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2022
  • Afterward, the penitent offers a prayer of contrition, asking for God’s mercy.
    — Timothy Gabrielli, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2025
  • At its best, the sacrament of reconciliation aims to support this practice and bring about God’s abundant grace upon the penitent.
    — Timothy Gabrielli, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2025
  • This clergy-penitent privilege is on the books in 33 states, including Utah, the AP found.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 23 Dec. 2022
  • Prior to the crucifixions, dozens of male penitents walked several kilometers (miles) through village streets, beating their bare backs with sharp bamboo sticks and pieces of wood.
    — Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2018
  • In his verse—by turns, introspective, penitent, and hopeful—No Malice seems to express thoughts that Pusha never will.
    — Sheldon Pearce, The New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Today is Good Friday, which means those who’ve been practicing a penitent and meat-free Lenten diet are nearing the end of their observance.
    — Amy Drew Thompson, Orlando Sentinel, 15 Apr. 2022
  • And, indeed, any romance that an uncareful reader might have brought to the story of penitent, suffering Jude is erased by what we’re literally shown.
    — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 21 Oct. 2022
  • The crowd grows so dense — easily in the hundreds — that when we are finally admitted into the garden, the mass of humanity moves along the path like a slow procession of super stylish penitents.
    — Carolina A. Miranda, latimes.com, 27 May 2018
  • The seven days culminate with a Sunday procession, which includes hundreds of self-flagellating, hooded penitents.
    — Text By Gaia Pianigiani, New York Times, 10 Sep. 2017
  • Father Gigante refused to give straight answers, saying he was exempted by priest-penitent confidentiality.
    — Robert D. McFadden, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2022
  • During an interview with the AP before the new court records were filed, Nelson defended the church’s actions in the Adams case and the clergy-penitent privilege.
    — Michael Rezendes and Jason Dearen, Anchorage Daily News, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Even if cats weren’t always as appreciated as other pets (the Romans had a penitent for lap dogs, for example), cats still conquered one famous piece of ancient Roman history.
    — Joshua Rapp Learn, Discover Magazine, 16 Sep. 2022
  • As the exhibition unfolds, artists-penitent, shrinking from the perils of originality, dominate in Russia.
    — Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2020
  • This absolute confidentiality helps give penitents the confidence to approach confession forthrightly, without holding back.
    — Timothy Gabrielli, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Typically, penitents would remain outside church gatherings, demonstrating their repentance by prostrating themselves, and then publicly confess.
    — Timothy Gabrielli, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2025
  • The operative subtext here is that Mary Magdalene has gotten a raw deal through the millennia — often depicted as a penitent prostitute follower of Jesus.
    — Washington Post, 16 Feb. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'penitent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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