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Pity vs Penance - What's the difference?

pity | penance |

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

is that pity is (obsolete) piety while penance is (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering.

As nouns the difference between pity and penance

is that pity is (uncountable) a feeling of sympathy at the misfortune or suffering of someone or something while penance is a voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing it may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.

As verbs the difference between pity and penance

is that pity is to feel pity for (someone or something) while penance is to impose penance; to punish.

As an interjection pity

is short form of what a pity.

pity

English

Alternative forms

* pitty (obsolete)

Noun

  • (uncountable) A feeling of sympathy at the misfortune or suffering of someone or something.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xix. 17
    • He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Hehas no more pity in him than a dog.
  • *, Folio Society, 2006, p.5:
    • The most usuall way to appease those minds we have offendedis, by submission to move them to commiseration and pitty .
  • (countable) Something regrettable.
    • It's a pity you're feeling unwell because there's a party on tonight.
  • * Laurence Sterne
    • It was a thousand pities .
  • * Addison
    • What pity is it / That we can die but once to serve our country!
  • (obsolete) piety
    • (Wyclif)

    Synonyms

    * (mercy) ruth * (something regrettable) shame

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To feel pity for (someone or something).
  • * Bible, Psalms ciii. 13
    • Like as a father pitieth' his children, so the Lord ' pitieth them that fear him.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , IV.11:
    • She lenger yet is like captiv'd to bee; / That even to thinke thereof it inly pitties mee.
  • * Book of Common Prayer
    • It pitieth them to see her in the dust.

    Interjection

  • Short form of what a pity.

    • Synonyms

    * shame, what a pity, what a shame

    Derived terms

    * piteous * pitiable * pitiful * self-pity * what a pity ----

    penance

    English

    (wikipedia 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.

    Related terms

    * penitent

    Verb

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