indulgence

What it means

1. countableuncountableThe act of indulging.

   As indulgence in several wives depended mainly on the length of a man's purse, the poor naturally contented themselves with monogamy.

   1922, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla, Zoroastrian Civilization, page 220

   1 more example

   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

   1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […], →OCLC

2. countableuncountableTolerance.
3. countableuncountableThe act of catering to someone's every desire.

In a sentence

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

1654, H[enry] Hammond, Of Fundamentals in a Notion Referring to Practise, London: […] J[ames] Flesher for Richard Royston, […], →OCLC

Where it comes from

1. Latinindulgentia
2. Middle Frenchindulgence
3. Middle Englishindulgence
4. Englishindulgence

From Middle English indulgence, indulgens, from Middle French indulgence and its source, Latin indulgentia.