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Of or pertaining to penitence, or to penance; expressing penitence; of the nature of penance; as, the penitential book; penitential tears. "Penitential stripes." Cowper. Guilt that all the penitential fires of hereafter can not cleanse. Sir W. Scott.

Expressive of penitence; as, a penitentiary letter.

Expressing or suggesting thoughtfulness with sadness; as, pensive numbers. Prior.

See Abundant number, under Abundant. Brande & C. -- Perfect tense (Gram.), a tense which expresses an act or state completed.

The use of more words than are necessary to express the idea; a roundabout, or indirect, way of speaking; circumlocution. "To describe by enigmatic periphrases." De Quincey.

Expressing, or expressed, in more words than are necessary; characterized by periphrase; circumlocutory. Periphrastic conjugation (Gram.), a conjugation formed by the use of the simple verb with one or more auxiliaries.

To grant (one) express license or liberty to do an act; to authorize; to give leave; -- followed by an infinitive. Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Acis xxvi. 1.

greater vagueness or uncertainty of outline in distant objects. Aërial perspective is the expression of space by any means whatsoever, sharpness of edge, vividness of color, etc. Ruskin.

The quality of being perspicuous to the understanding; clearness of expression or thought.

Clear to the understanding; capable of being clearly understood; clear in thought or in expression; not obscure or ambiguous; as, a perspicuous writer; perspicuous statements. "The purpose is perspicuous." Shak. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ly, adv. -- Per*spic"u*ous*ness, n.

The angle expressing phase relation.

A brief expression, sometimes a single word, but usually two or more words forming an expression by themselves, or being a portion of a sentence; as, an adverbial phrase. "Convey" the wise it call. "Steal!" foh! a fico for the phrase. Shak.

Manner of expression; peculiarity of diction; style. Most completely national in his . . . phraseology. I. Taylor.

Method of expression; association of words.

r countenance, with respect to the temper of the mind; particular configuration, cast, or expression of countenance, as denoting character.

A picture or hieroglyph representing and expressing an idea. -- Pic`to*graph"ic, a.

The art of painting; representation by painting. [Obs.] Any well-expressed image . . . either in picture or sculpture. Sir H. Wotton.

easing picture; representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language. What is picturesque as placed in relation to the beautiful…

To express contempt. Pope.

diameter of a circle bears to its circumference; it is sometimes described by the number expressing the quotient obtained by dividing the number of teeth in a wheel by the diameter of its pitch circle in inches; as, 4 pitch, 8 pitch, etc. -- Pitch chain, a chain, as one made of metallic plates, adapted for working wi…