ABSOLUTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does absolution mean? 

• ABSOLUTION (noun)
  The noun ABSOLUTION has 2 senses:

1. the condition of being formally forgiven by a priest in the sacrament of penance

2. the act of absolving or remitting; formal redemption as pronounced by a priest in the sacrament of penance

  Familiarity information: ABSOLUTION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ABSOLUTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The condition of being formally forgiven by a priest in the sacrament of penance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("absolution" is a kind of...):

condition; status (a state at a particular time)

Derivation:

absolve (grant remission of a sin to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of absolving or remitting; formal redemption as pronounced by a priest in the sacrament of penance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

absolution; remission; remission of sin; remittal

Hypernyms ("absolution" is a kind of...):

redemption; salvation ((theology) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "absolution"):

indulgence (the remission by the pope of the temporal punishment in purgatory that is still due for sins even after absolution)

Holonyms ("absolution" is a part of...):

penance (a Catholic sacrament; repentance and confession and atonement and absolution)

Derivation:

absolve (grant remission of a sin to)

 Context examples 

I confessed, that I might obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

His chamberlain and cardinals came forth, as I remember, to ask whether we would take seven thousand crowns with his blessing and a plenary absolution, or the ten thousand with his solemn ban by bell, book and candle.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)