death penalty
Americannoun
noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But instead of ending capital punishment in the United States, the Furman decision set off a scramble in which states reenacted their death penalty laws in the hope of curing the problem Justice Douglas identified.
From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026
It is time to face the fact that Gregg failed to put the death penalty on a sound footing and that nothing can improve on Gregg’s frailties.
From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026
Multiple Zizian trials are pending, with federal prosecutors seeking the death penalty in one case.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
The sentence was commuted to life in prison last June, after Vietnam abolished the death penalty for a range of crimes.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
But in 1989, driven by a change in the Supreme Court's treatment of death penalty appeals and shifts in the political winds, the attorney general's office began vigorously seeking executions of condemned prisoners.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.