penal
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or involving punishment, as for crimes or offenses.
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prescribing punishment.
penal laws.
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constituting punishment.
He survived the years of penal hardship.
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used as a place of confinement and punishment.
a penal colony.
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subject to or incurring punishment.
a penal offense.
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payable or forfeitable as a penalty.
a penal sum.
adjective
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of, relating to, constituting, or prescribing punishment
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payable as a penalty
a penal sum
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used or designated as a place of punishment
a penal institution
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of penal
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin poenālis, equivalent to poen ( a ) penalty (< Greek poinḗ fine) + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
Anything described as penal has something to do with legal punishment. Prisons are one important part of a country's penal system. Whenever you see the adjective penal, you'll know it has to do with court-ordered punishment. A government's penal code, for example, is a list of crimes and the punishments imposed for each of them. You might notice how similar penal is to the word penalty — in fact, they both stem from the same Latin word, poena, and the Greek root poine, both of which mean "punishment."
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.
Yet, with the severely-sloped greens playing firm in the Pennsylvanian sun, and the thick rough continuing to be penal, scoring opportunities remained at a premium.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
“As well as realistic criminal investigation when they’ve committed a crime in violation of a penal code.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 5, 2026
Memorial was founded in the late 1980s to document victims of Soviet-era political repression during which millions of people perished in the Gulag penal system.
From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026
Traces of epibatidine were found in samples from Navalny's body and highly likely resulted in his death in a Siberian penal colony two years ago, the UK Foreign Office said.
From BBC • Feb. 15, 2026
One in 9 black men between the ages of twenty and thirty-five was behind bars in 2006, and far more were under some form of penal control—such as probation or parole.
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.
