capital punishment
Americannoun
noun
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In the United States, capital punishment has been an extremely controversial issue on legal, moral, and ethical grounds. In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was not, in principle, cruel and unusual punishment (and not, therefore, unconstitutional), but that its implementation through existing state laws was unconstitutional. In 1976, the Supreme Court again ruled that the death penalty was not unconstitutional, though a mandatory death penalty for any crime was. Thirty-nine states now practice the death penalty.
Etymology
Origin of capital punishment
First recorded in 1575–85
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
The Court had in prior decades issued many emergency orders in election and capital punishment cases.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
After many countries around the world abolished capital punishment, Israel is taking steps in the opposite direction.
From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026
Mexico has abolished capital punishment and routinely seeks U.S. guarantees that any suspects extradited or otherwise sent to the United States will not face the death penalty.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2026
Even though capital punishment quadrupled within a decade, there were still only 478 executions in the entire United States during the 1990s.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
