Meanings
plural pardoners
- One who pardons.
- historicalIn medieval Catholicism, a person licensed to grant papal pardons or indulgences.
[…] old men, cheated by their wives and daughters, pillaged by their sons, and imposed on by their domestics, a braggadocia captain, a knavish pardoner or quaestionary, a country bumpkin and a wanton city dame.
1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot1 more example
1917, Catholic Encyclopedia, "Collections" http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04104b.htm These grants of Indulgence were often entrusted to preachers of note ("Pardoners") who carried them from town to town, collecting money and using their eloquence to recommend the good work in question and to enhance the spiritual privileges attached to it.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna person who pardons or forgives or excuses a fault or offense
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
pardoner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pardoner
“pardoner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pardoner. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pardoner,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pardoner.
Source: pardoner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.