penalize
Americanverb (used with object)
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penalizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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penalized,
past participle, past
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penalizing
present participle
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to subject to a penalty, as a person.
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to declare (an action, deed, etc.) punishable by law or rule.
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to put under a disadvantage or handicap.
verb
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to impose a penalty on (someone), as for breaking a law or rule
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to inflict a handicap or disadvantage on
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sport to award a free stroke, point, or penalty against (a player or team)
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to declare (an act) legally punishable; make subject to a penalty
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overpenalizationnoun
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penalizationnoun
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overpenalizeverb (used with object)
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repenalizeverb (used with object)
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nonpenalizedadjective
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penalizableadjective
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unpenalizedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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penalizesimple
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penalizessimple
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have penalizedperfect
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has penalizedperfect
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am penalizingprogressive
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are penalizingprogressive
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is penalizingprogressive
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have been penalizingperfect progressive
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has been penalizingperfect progressive
Past
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penalizedsimple
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had penalizedperfect
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was penalizingprogressive
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were penalizingprogressive
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had been penalizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of penalize
Explanation
When you penalize someone, you punish them. A traffic cop will usually penalize a speeder with an expensive ticket. A court might penalize a criminal with fines or time in prison, while a frustrated teacher is more likely to penalize the class clown with detention. Sports referees frequently penalize players by allowing the opposing team an advantage of some sort, like a penalty kick in soccer or a free throw in basketball. Penalize is rooted in penal, or "pertaining to punishment." The Greek root is poine, "penalty, punishment, or blood money."
Vocabulary lists containing penalize
Game Changer
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New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), List 3
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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.
See Examples For:
One investigator told Banyuetan that authorities lack legal grounds to probe or penalize people who merely publish officials’ résumés on social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Any talk of changing the rules, salary cap or otherwise, to put reins on this kind of success would propagate underperformance and penalize this fascinating culture of constant improvement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Only Charles Schwab won’t penalize traders for selling on the first day, but Schwab clients have to be pretty big players to get any shares.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026
Fidelity Brokerage Services—one of the five brokers allocated retail shares of the IPO—will penalize investors who sell their SpaceX stock within 15 calendar days of the stock’s debut, according to the firm’s website External link.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
It also forbade the use of federal funds for anything that discriminated against anyone, and authorized the federal government to enforce the integration of schools and penalize schools that didn’t comply.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
Lockwood hears from parents who wonder if saving for college penalizes them when it comes to financial aid.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
AI rewards those with judgment, domain knowledge and machine output; it penalizes those in rigidly designed jobs, such as narrowly scripted clerical or call-center work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
McKinnon penalizes his fellow drill sergeant by dismissing him from overseeing that unit.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2025
One of the bills, AB1836, prohibits and penalizes the making and distribution of a deceased person’s digital replica without permission from their estate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2024
Artificial interference with a more exact adjustment of wages to ability therefore penalizes the better workmen and subsidizes the worse ones.
From Applied Eugenics by Paul Popenoe
Regulators often inquire about internal controls on information and have penalized banks when they have found lapses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The lawsuit claims Meta relied on AI metrics like productivity and token use, which penalized employees who missed work for protected leave.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Chiarella takes time between bouts of danger to show affection and intimacy that, in defiance of teen-slasher formula, isn’t immediately penalized with sadism.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
China’s market has lagged and Beijing recently penalized brokers that let mainland investors buy stocks abroad.
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
“Team Kyle is not being penalized for Team Charles’s blunder,” he said.
From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein
“Meta still has the most call optionality, where the market is penalizing them for the spend and not giving them credit for potential revenue from the spend,” he wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026
In response, the VA’s new rule asserts a blanket policy of considering the condition only as it presents under treatment, basically penalizing veterans like me for doing the work of staying alive.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2026
Vice President JD Vance met with South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok in Washington last week and warned him against penalizing U.S. tech firms including Coupang, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
The suit claims that about 100 schools are left without these additional resources, penalizing them with larger class sizes and fewer opportunities to meet with teachers, among other drawbacks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
For example, there is neither good sense nor honesty in penalizing a corporation because some of its officials have done wrong.
From Morals in Trade and Commerce by Frank B. Anderson
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.
