indulgence

English

Etymology

From Middle French indulgence, or its source, Latin indulgentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈdʌld͡ʒəns/, X-SAMPA: /In"dVldZ@ns/

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: in‧dul‧gence

Noun

indulgence (plural indulgences)

1. the act of indulging
2. tolerance
3. catering to someone's every desire
4. something in which someone indulges
5. (Roman Catholicism) A pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory, after the sinner has been granted absolution.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 555:

     To understand how indulgences were intended to work depends on linking together a number of assumptions about sin and the afterlife, each of which individually makes considerable sense.

Related terms

• indulge
• indulgent

Translations

act of indulging

• Finnish: hemmottelu (fi)
• French: indulgence (fr)
• Ido: indulgo (io)

• Italian: vizio (it) m
• Romanian: îngăduire (ro) f, tolerare (ro) f

tolerance

• Finnish: lempeys (fi), suopeus (fi)

• Romanian: indulgență (ro) f

catering to someone's every desire

• Finnish: hemmottelu (fi)

something in which someone indulges

• Finnish: hemmottelu (fi), viettelys (fi)

• Italian: vizio (it) m

pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory

• Dutch: aflaat (nl) m
• Finnish: ane (fi), lievitys (fi)
• French: indulgence (fr)
• German: Ablass (de)
• Ido: induljenco (io)

• Italian: indulgenza (it)
• Korean: 면벌 (ko) (myeonbeol)
• Romanian: indulgență (ro) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

• Spanish: indulgencia

Verb

indulgence (third-person singular simple present indulgences, present participle indulgencing, simple past and past participle indulgenced)

1. (transitive) (Roman Catholic Church) to provide with an indulgence