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Expiate vs Penance - What's the difference?

expiate | penance |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between expiate and penance

is that expiate is (obsolete) to relieve or cleanse of guilt while penance is (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering.

As verbs the difference between expiate and penance

is that expiate is (transitive|or|intransitive) to atone or make reparation for while penance is to impose penance; to punish.

As a noun penance is

a voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing it may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.

expiate

English

Verb

  • (transitive, or, intransitive) To atone or make reparation for.
  • * Clarendon
  • The Treasurer obliged himself to expiate the injury.
  • * 1888 , Leo XIII, "",
  • Thus those pious souls who expiate the remainder of their sins amidst such tortures will receive a special and opportune consolation,
  • * 1913 , ,
  • I am going out to expiate a great wrong, Paul. A very necessary feature of the expiation is the marksmanship of my opponent.
  • To make amends or pay the penalty for.
  • * 1876 , ,
  • He had only to live and expiate in solitude the crimes which he had committed.
  • (obsolete) To relieve or cleanse of guilt.
  • * 1829 , , Larcher's Notes on Herodotus , vol. 2, p. 195,
  • and Epimenides was brought from Crete to expiate the city.
  • To purify with sacred rites.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xviii. 10 (Douay version)
  • Neither let there be found among you any one that shall expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire.

    Usage notes

    Intransitive use, constructed with (for) (like (atone)), is obsolete in Christian usage, but fairly common in informal discussions of Islam.

    penance

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
  • * Coleridge
  • Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."
  • A sacrament in some Christian churches.
  • (obsolete) repentance
  • (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering
  • * Chaucer
  • Joy or penance he feeleth none.

    Quotations

    * 2009 : Stuart Heritage], [http://www.hecklerspray.com/ Hecklerspray] , Friday the 22nd of May in 2009 at 1 o’clock p.m., “[http://www.hecklerspray.com/jon-kate-latest-people-you-dont-know-do-crap-you-dont-care-about/200934378.php Jon & Kate Latest: People You Don’t Know Do Crap You Don’t Care About” *: You know all this kerfuffle about Jordan and Peter Andre, and how you don’t know if they’re really splitting up or it’s just an act, and how you can’t be bothered to find out because wasting even a fraction of your brainpower on those bright orange clueless dicksplats would make you just as bad as them and you’d feel duty-bound to fling yourself under an industrial threshing machine as penance ? You do? Good.

    Verb

    (penanc)
  • To impose penance; to punish.
  • * Keats
  • Some penanced lady elf.