In-dŭl'ġençe or In-dŭl'ġen-çy, n.
[Lat. indulgentia, Fr. indulgence, Pr. & Sp. indulgencia, It. indulgenza.]
Sense 1. The quality of being indulgent; the act of indulging or humoring; free permission to the appetites, desires, passions, or will, to act or operate; forbearance of restraint or control.
They err, that through indulgence to others, or fondness to any sin in themselves, substitute for repentance any thing less. Hammond.
Sense 2. An indulgent act; favor granted; liberality; gratification.
If all these gracious indulgencies are without effect on us, we must perish in our folly. Rogers.
Sense 3. (Rom. Cath. Church.) Remission of the temporal punishment due to sins, granted by the pope or church, and supposed to save the sinner from purgatory; absolution from the censures and public penances of the church.