1300-1400Old Frenchpénitent, from Latin, present participle of paenitere ‘to be sorry’
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Phil was trying hard to look penitent.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
After watching a few more penitent men pass by I was ready to leave.
And he had a notorious asperity for which he was afterwards sometimes penitent.
And to a penitent soldier a crusade was even better than an unarmed pilgrimage.
But Gao Jinjiao was rocking back and forth, bumping against the tree like a penitent little boy.
But the short version points to a promise of progress in experience beyond the stage of penitent sorrow.
He'd have liked to have seen Gina reading one of their notes with a penitent expression.
He inherited a regular staff meeting and was penitent that he had never invented such a meeting in Durham.
There are various Pelagias who are known as penitent harlots or virgin martyrs who died to escape a fate worse than death.
feeling sorry because you have done something wrong, and are intending not to do it againSYN repentant: a penitent expression—penitently adverb—penitence noun [uncountable]