From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpenancepen‧ance /ˈpenəns/ noun 1 [countable usually singular, uncountable]RRCSUFFER something that you must do to show that you are sorry for something you have done wrong, especially in some religionsdo/perform penance We prayed and did penance together.penance for as a penance for his sins2 [singular]MUST something that you have to do but do not enjoy doing Working in the garden was a kind of penance.
Examples from the Corpus
penance• She had spoken of a reward, not a penance!• Members of the order led a life of prayer, fasting, and penance.• As penance, Gandhi fasted three days and asked his followers to fast twenty-four hours.• He subsequently decided to do penance for the deed, and set off to his foundation at Agaune.• When it was over, the penance would be unexpectedly light.• This device will say your penance for you automatically.do/perform penance• He whose sperm flows while he is sleeping shall do penance for three days.• He subsequently decided to do penance for the deed, and set off to his foundation at Agaune.• If found guilty, her head would be shaved and she would be required to do penance for life.• Just to look at it was to do penance for her failures.Origin penance (1200-1300) Old French Medieval Latin poenitentia, from Latin paenitere; → PENITENT1 