1. garments worn by penitents during the Spanish Inquisition, typically yellow with painted flames or crosses
Usage: historical; plural form

Examples

• The condemned heretics were forced to wear sanbenitos during the auto-da-fé ceremony.
• Museums display historical sanbenitos as artifacts from the Spanish Inquisition.
• The yellow sanbenitos marked the wearers as penitents before the tribunal.
• Historians study sanbenitos to understand Inquisition practices.
• The painted flames on the sanbenitos symbolized the fate awaiting unrepentant heretics.