Synonyms

penal code

American

noun

Law.

the aggregate of statutory enactments dealing with crimes and their punishment.

penal code British

noun

the codified body of the laws in any legal system that relate to crime and its punishment

"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

Etymology

Origin of penal code

First recorded in 1880–85

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:

penal code

According to Human Rights Watch, "several penal code provisions, as well as the cybercrime law, criminalise speech deemed insulting to religion, the emir or foreign leaders".

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

Under the islands’ penal code, a single fender-bender with an endemic animal can carry severe consequences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

The interim government is prosecuting Atef Najib under the 1949 penal code, a statute written for ordinary murder, not for crimes against humanity.

From Slate ● May 27, 2026

They also want the offence of "femicide" to be brought into the penal code.

From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026

The Russian penal code imposes the same penalty for disfiguring the eyes of an imperial portrait as it does for blinding a live subject of the Czar.

From The White Terror and The Red A novel of revolutionary Russia by Abraham Cahan

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023