indulgence

English

Alternative forms

• indulgency (dated)
• indulgement (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English indulgence, indulgens, from Middle French indulgence and its source, Latin indulgentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdʌl.d͡ʒəns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧dul‧gence

Noun

indulgence (countable and uncountable, plural indulgences)

1. The act of indulging.
   • 1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […], →OCLC:

     will all they that either through indulgence to others or fondness to any sin in themselves, substitute for repentance any thing that is less than a sincere, uniform resolution of new obedience

   • 1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization‎, page 220:

     As indulgence in several wives depended mainly on the length of a man's purse, the poor naturally contented themselves with monogamy.

2. Tolerance.
3. The act of catering to someone's every desire.
4. A wish or whim satisfied.
   • 2013, Jocelyn Samara D., Rain, volume 1, →ISBN, page 199:

     "In other words, the ONLY indulgences we'll be getting for a while is fixing your wardrobe. This means no new manga. No new games. Nothing. Get used to it."

5. Something in which someone indulges.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 5:

     I made but one error—giving way to petulance in the earlier instance; that lost me the Prince of Conti. Temper is bourgeois indulgence, though I own to a predilection for it.

6. An indulgent act; a favour granted; gratification.
   • a. 1729, John Rogers, The Goodness of God a Motive to Repentance:

     If all these gracious indulgences are without any effect on us, we must perish in our own folly.

7. (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, published 2010, page 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.

Hyponyms

• (pardon from purgatory): plenary indulgence, partial indulgence

Derived terms

• homedulgence
• indulgencer
• nonindulgence
• overindulgence
• self-indulgence
• underindulgence

Related terms

• indulge
• indulgent

Translations

act of indulging

Bulgarian: задоволяване (bg) (zadovoljavane) Finnish: hemmottelu (fi) French: indulgence (fr) Galician: indulxencia f German: Nachgiebigkeit (de) f, Nachsicht (de) f, Milde (de) f, Nachsichtigkeit (de) f Greek: Ancient Greek: πλησμονή f (plēsmonḗ) Hebrew: הִתְפַּנְּקוּת f (hitpanqút) Hungarian: élvezet (hu), hódolat (hu), kiélvezés Ido: indulgo (io) Italian: vizio (it) m Maori: whakawairekatanga Portuguese: indulgência (pt) f Romanian: îngăduire (ro) f, tolerare (ro) f

tolerance

Bulgarian: търпимост (bg) f (tǎrpimost) Finnish: suvaitsevaisuus (fi) Galician: indulxencia f German: Duldsamkeit (de) f, Duldung (de) f Greek: ανοχή (el) f (anochí), επιείκεια (el) f (epieíkeia) Hungarian: elnézés (hu), engedékenység (hu), lágyszívűség Old Church Slavonic: длъготръпѣниѥ n (dlŭgotrŭpěnije) Portuguese: indulgência (pt) f Romanian: indulgență (ro) f Russian: снисхожде́ние (ru) n (snisxoždénije), снисходи́тельность (ru) f (snisxodítelʹnostʹ), терпи́мость (ru) f (terpímostʹ) Turkish: müsamaha (tr), hoşgörü (tr)

catering to someone's every desire

Finnish: hemmottelu (fi) German: Verwöhnen n, Verwöhnung (de) f Greek: κανάκεμα (el) n (kanákema), παραχάιδεμα (el) n (paracháidema) Hungarian: kényeztetés (hu), kedvében járás Russian: потака́ние (ru) n (potakánije), потво́рство (ru) n (potvórstvo)

something in which someone indulges

Bulgarian: привилегия (bg) f (privilegija) Finnish: hemmottelu (fi), viettelys German: Schwäche (de) f, Hobby (de) n Greek: απόλαυση (el) f (apólafsi), πολυτέλεια (el) f (polytéleia) Hebrew: הִתְפַּנְּקוּת f (hitpanqút) Hungarian: élvezet (hu), örömforrás, szórakozás (hu), szenvedély (hu) Italian: vizio (it) m

indulgent act; favour granted; gratification

Finnish: hemmottelu (fi) German: Gnade (de), Gnadenbezeigung, Gefälligkeit (de) Latin: venia f Portuguese: indulgência (pt) f

pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory

Arabic: صَكّ غُفْرَان m (ṣakk ḡufrān) Bulgarian: индулгенция f (indulgencija) Catalan: indulgència f Czech: odpustek m Danish: aflad c Dutch: aflaat (nl) m Faroese: avlát Finnish: ane (fi), lievitys (fi) French: indulgence (fr) German: Ablass (de) m Greek: συγχωροχάρτι (el) n (synchorochárti), συχωροχάρτι (el) n (sychorochárti) Hungarian: búcsú (hu) Icelandic: aflát n Ido: induljenco (io) Italian: indulgenza (it) Korean: 면벌 (ko) (myeonbeol) Latin: indulgentia f Macedonian: индулгенција f (indulgencija) Norwegian: Bokmål: avlat (no) Nynorsk: avlat Polish: odpust (pl) m Portuguese: indulgência (pt) f, indulto (pt) m Romanian: indulgență (ro) f Russian: индульге́нция (ru) f (indulʹgéncija), отпуще́ние грехо́в n (otpuščénije grexóv) Spanish: indulgencia (es) f Swedish: avlat (sv) c Tagalog: indulhensiya Thai: ใบบุญ (th) (bai-bun) Turkish: müsamaha (tr), hoşgörü (tr), yarlıgama (tr) Ukrainian: індульге́нція f (indulʹhéncija), відпу́щення гріхі́в n (vidpúščennja hrixív), ві́дпуст (uk) m (vídpust) Vietnamese: ơn xá, ân xá (vi)

Verb

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

1. (transitive, Roman Catholicism) to provide with an indulgence

Translations

to provide with an indulgence

Vietnamese: ban ơn xá (Roman Catholicism), xá tội (vi), tha tội

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin indulgentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.dyl.ʒɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Noun

indulgence f (countable and uncountable, plural indulgences)

1. (uncountable) leniency, clemency

   Antonyms: sévérité, intransigeance

2. (countable, Roman Catholicism) indulgence

Related terms

• indulgent

Further reading

• “indulgence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.