punisher

American  

[puhn-i-sher] / ˈpʌn ɪ ʃər /

noun

• punishers
  plural

1. a person who inflicts a penalty, such as pain, confinement, etc..

   If your response is delayed, the dog will link the punishment to the punisher and not to the transgression.

2. Sports. a person who plays or hits aggressively.

   The player is destined to be an all-American and an all-around punisher in the league.

3. a thing that inflicts pain, discomfort, etc..

   I ran out of time on the test because of one punisher—a question I should have left for last.

4. something that deters or dissuades.

   Any stimulus which makes the behavior it follows more frequent is a reinforcer, even if it is intended as a punisher.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-punisher
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• punishers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of punisher

punish ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

punisher punishers

We all suddenly knew our great friendly teacher was a punisher.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2022

While not a system punisher by a long shot, it ran at almost 200 frames per second and looked fantastic on the high refresh rate display.

From The Verge ● Aug. 18, 2022

Stanton played punisher all weekend at Fenway Park, lifting the Yankees to the top spot in the American League wild-card race with a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2021

I even have a little "punisher wave" that some of my friends know about, where it's like a signal to come and save me.

From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2020

In all the earlier guilt of Europe, France has been the allotted punisher of the Continent; and England the allotted punisher of France.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, No. 359, September 1845 by Various

“There is no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis,” he said.

From Washington Post ● May 9, 2022

Caring about others, empathising, loving them, liberates each of us; these bereft figures seem to be prisoners of their selfishness before they are punishers of others.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2017

The people in the group that imagined taking revenge consistently thought it would feel better than the actual punishers found it to be.

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2017

No. These are young men, they need teachers and counselors who can guide them, not punishers who throw the baby out with the bath water.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2016

"For this cause they have sessions, terms, assizes, and parliaments, to overrule men's passions and resentments, that they may not be judges in their own cause, nor punishers of their own wrongs."

From William Penn by George Hodges