Penance vs Attrition - What's the difference?
penance | attrition | Related terms |
A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
* Coleridge
A sacrament in some Christian churches.
(obsolete) repentance
(obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering
* Chaucer
To impose penance; to punish.
* Keats
wearing or grinding down by friction
the gradual reduction in a tangible or intangible resource due to causes that are passive and do not involve productive use of the resource.
(human resources) A gradual, natural reduction in membership or personnel, as through retirement, resignation, or death
(sciences) The loss of participants during an experiment
(theology) Imperfect contrition or remorse
(dentistry) The wearing of teeth due to their grinding
As nouns the difference between penance and attrition
is that penance is a voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act while attrition is wearing or grinding down by friction.As a verb penance
is to impose penance; to punish.penance
English
(wikipedia penance)Noun
(en noun)- Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."
- 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)- Some penanced lady elf.