Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun penance

3 senses of penance

Sense 1
repentance, penitence, penance -- (remorse for your past conduct)
       => compunction, remorse, self-reproach -- (a feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed))

Sense 2
penance -- (a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and atonement and absolution)
       => sacrament -- (a formal religious ceremony conferring a specific grace on those who receive it; the two Protestant ceremonies are baptism and the Lord's Supper; in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church there are seven traditional rites accepted as instituted by Jesus: baptism and confirmation and Holy Eucharist and penance and holy orders and matrimony and extreme unction)

Sense 3
penance, self-mortification, self-abasement -- (voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing)
       => punishment, penalty, penalization, penalisation -- (the act of punishing)