— penanceless , adj.
/pen"euhns/ , n.
1. a punishment undergone in token of penitence for sin.
2. a penitential discipline imposed by church authority.
3. a sacrament, as in the Roman Catholic Church, consisting in a confession of sin, made with sorrow and with the intention of amendment, followed by the forgiveness of the sin.
[ 1250-1300; ME penaunce peneance paenitentia PENITENCE ]