<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>Plural: penitentiaries.</li><li>A place for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment, especially a prison maintained in the U.S. by a state or the federal government for serious offenders.</li><li>Roman Catholic Church: A tribunal in the Curia Romana, presided over by a cardinal grand penitentiary, having jurisdiction over certain matters, as penance, confession, dispensation, absolution, and impediments, and dealing with questions of conscience reserved for the Holy See.</li></ul><p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>(Of an offense) punishable by imprisonment in a penitentiary.</li><li>Of, relating to, or intended for imprisonment, reformatory discipline, or punishment.</li><li>Penitential.</li></ul>