punisher

American  

[puhn-i-sher] / ˈpʌn ɪ ʃər /

noun

punishers plural

1. a person who inflicts a penalty, such as pain, confinement, etc..

   If your response is delayed, the dog will link the punishment to the punisher and not to the transgression.

2. Sports. a person who plays or hits aggressively.

   The player is destined to be an all-American and an all-around punisher in the league.

3. a thing that inflicts pain, discomfort, etc..

   I ran out of time on the test because of one punisher—a question I should have left for last.

4. something that deters or dissuades.

   Any stimulus which makes the behavior it follows more frequent is a reinforcer, even if it is intended as a punisher.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• self-punisher
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• punishers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of punisher

punish ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

punisher punishers

Still, it’s probably not what the 6-3, 220-pound punisher does best.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023

We all suddenly knew our great friendly teacher was a punisher.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 28, 2022

While not a system punisher by a long shot, it ran at almost 200 frames per second and looked fantastic on the high refresh rate display.

From The Verge ● Aug. 18, 2022

Stanton played punisher all weekend at Fenway Park, lifting the Yankees to the top spot in the American League wild-card race with a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox.

From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2021

Melantius, a rough, honest soldier, who believes every one is true till convicted of crime, and then is he a relentless punisher.

From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham

But that’s only after so much to relish from the exploits of one of literature’s archetypal punishers, who welcomes nightmares, he explains, because “They keep my wounds fresh.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2024

“There is no place in the world for executioners, punishers and Nazis,” he said.

From Washington Post ● May 9, 2022

In Pennsylvania, the owner of an organic skincare line shut down her social media accounts after social punishers identified her as the daughter of the junta’s auditor general.

From Slate ● Apr. 23, 2021

Caring about others, empathising, loving them, liberates each of us; these bereft figures seem to be prisoners of their selfishness before they are punishers of others.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2017

"For this cause they have sessions, terms, assizes, and parliaments, to overrule men's passions and resentments, that they may not be judges in their own cause, nor punishers of their own wrongs."

From William Penn by Hodges, George