on pain of

Idioms  

1. Also, under pain of. Subject to the penalty of a specific punishment. For example, The air traffic controllers knew that going on strike was on pain of losing their jobs. At one time this idiom often invoked death as the penalty, a usage that is largely hyperbolic today, as in We'd better be back on time, under pain of death. [Late 1300s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

on pain of

One of those faces new to me belonged to Charles R., who I was advised by second period had “the cooties” and must therefore, on pain of social suicide, be shunned.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

But the state laws and the NLRB’s ruling make the same distinctions between meetings at which attendance is voluntary, and those that workers are required to attend on pain of discipline.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2025

No more rules-evolving, geometrically impossible positioning of heads on tackles, on pain of penalty or disqualification or fine or suspension.

From Salon ● Jan. 14, 2023

Like his predecessors in impeachment trials, Stenger warns the senators, staff and public that they are “commanded to keep silent, on pain of imprisonment,” while the trial goes on.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 23, 2020

Then he warned her solemnly not to be persuaded by anyone to try to see him, on pain of being separated from him forever.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton