noun pain; sorrow; suffering.
2. penance ·noun repentance.
3. penance ·vt to impose penance; to punish.
4. penance ·noun a means of repairing a sin committed, and obtaining pardon for it, consisting partly in the performance of expiatory rites, partly in voluntary submission to a punishment corresponding to the transgression. penance is the fourth of seven sacraments in the roman catholic church.