Indulgence

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪnˈdÊŒldÍ¡Ê’É™ns/
• Hyphenation: in + dul + gence

Origin

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

Full definition of indulgence

Noun

1. the act of indulging
• HammondThey err, that through indulgence to others, or fondness to any sin in themselves, substitute for repentance anything less.
2. tolerance
3. catering to someone's every desire
4. something in which someone indulges
5. An indulgent act; favour granted; gratification.
• RogersIf all these gracious indulgences are without any effect on us, we must perish in our own folly.
6. (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

Verb

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