indulgence

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈdʌlʤəns/, 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

the act of indulging

Ido: indulgo (io) Italian: vizio (it) m.

Romanian: îngăduire (ro) f., tolerare (ro) f.

tolerance

Romanian: indulgență (ro) f.

catering to someone's every desire

something in which someone indulges

Italian: vizio (it) m.

a pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory

Finnish: ane (fi) 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