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Showing results for death penalty. Search instead for Death+Penalty.
Synonyms

death penalty

American  
death penalty British  

noun

  1. capital punishment

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Multiple Zizian trials are pending, with federal prosecutors seeking the death penalty in one case.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern break down the Broadview Six dismissal and the Supreme Court’s surprising punt in a major death penalty case.

From Slate • May 23, 2026

The US government is seeking the death penalty for the suspect charged with killing two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington DC last year.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

I was in a poor rural county in Alabama after another trip to pull records in a death penalty case when I was invited to speak at a small African American church.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

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