1. a yellow garment worn by penitents condemned by the Spanish Inquisition
Usage: historical

Examples

• The condemned heretic was forced to wear a sanbenito during the public ceremony.
• Museums display sanbenitos as artifacts from the Spanish Inquisition period.
• The yellow sanbenito marked the wearer as someone who had been tried by the Inquisition.
• Historical records describe the humiliation of wearing a sanbenito in public.
• The sanbenito served as both punishment and warning to others in medieval Spain.