indulgence

English

Alternative forms

• indulgency (dated)

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^[1], 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

• self-indulgence

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
• 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

• Bulgarian: индулгенция f (indulgencija)
• 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

• 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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.dyl.ʒɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

indulgence f (plural indulgences)

1. leniency, clemency
2. (Roman Catholicism) indulgence

Further reading

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