penitenziario

penitentiary

noun peh-nee-ten-TSYAH-ryoh Rare

Origin: From Medieval Latin poenitentiarius, from poenitentia, 'penance'.

Also means

prison

Usage Note

Penitenziario is the formal Italian word for a prison or correctional facility, used in official and journalistic language. The everyday synonym is carcere (m) or prigione (f). Note that penitenziario is masculine: il penitenziario. The plural is penitenziari.

Examples

"Il penitenziario di massima sicurezza è sorvegliato."

Natural Translation

The maximum-security penitentiary is guarded.

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