Definition of: indulgence

(in·dul′jəns) noun
1. The act of indulging; hence, excess; self–gratification.
2. That with which a person is indulged or indulges himself; an act of compliance, grace, or favor.
3. Permission to defer payment, as of a note.
4. In the Roman Catholic Church, remission, by those authorized, of the temporal punishment still due to sin after sacramental absolution, either in this world or in purgatory; also, a relaxation, in a person's favor, of a particular rule of ecclesiastical law: properly called dispensation.
5. The granting of special favors by the Declaration of Indulgence. Also in·dul′gen·cy.
—Declaration of Indulgence In English history, a royal proclamation granting a larger measure of religious freedom to nonconformists: especially those of Charles II, 1671, and James II, 1687. [<OF <L indulgentia]