indulgence
- 01 C1 Advanced
the quality of being patient and kind to someone, even if they are doing something wrong.
the quality of being indulgent; leniency or tolerance towards the actions or faults of others.
Simple“The teacher asked for the students' indulgence while she fixed the computer.”
In context“The speaker begged the audience's indulgence for a few extra minutes to conclude his presentation on the complex data sets.”
- 02 C2 Proficiency
in the Catholic Church, a way to reduce the punishment for sins.
a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.
Simple“In the past, people sometimes paid money to the church to receive an indulgence.”
In context“The sale of indulgences was one of the primary grievances cited by Martin Luther during the early stages of the Reformation.”
“The new government of Peter Magyar hoped to use the suite overlooking the Danube as evidence of an autocrat’s indulgence.”
From Middle English indulgence, indulgens, from Middle French indulgence and its source, Latin indulgentia.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.