death penalty
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
Parents, siblings and best friends are interviewed by Ms. Borgman, all singing the praises of the deceased but almost uniformly despairing of the results of the case, a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told MPs the King had granted the pardon, saying that the death penalty had been replaced with a sentence of life imprisonment.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Father Hidalgo, the priest who raised the cry of independence in 1810, demanded that slave owners free the enslaved at once, “grant them the necessary freedom documents,” or risk the death penalty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
It added that the measures were "tantamount to the financial death penalty," as the judges are unable to use credit cards, access banking services and use online platforms like Amazon and Google.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
But outside of the death penalty arena, civil rights advocates have long been reluctant to leap to the defense of those viewed as criminals.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
