capital punishment
- punishment by death for a crime; death penalty.
Show More
Origin of capital punishment
First recorded in 1575–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
executionExamples from the Web for capital punishment
Historical Examples
The capital-punishment man was the Marquis of Beccaria, and that of makes a great difference in Europe.
Stories of InventionEdward E. Hale
capital punishment
- the punishment of death for a crime; death penalty
Show More
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
capital punishment
The infliction of the death penalty as punishment for certain crimes. (See capital offense.)
Show More
Note
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.
capital punishment
The death penalty for a crime.
Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.