noun
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a penalty or sanction given for any crime or offence
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the act of punishing or state of being punished
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informal rough treatment
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psychol any aversive stimulus administered to an organism as part of training
Other Word Forms
- nonpunishment noun
- overpunishment noun
- prepunishment noun
- propunishment adjective
- repunishment noun
- self-punishment noun
Etymology
Origin of punishment
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English punysshement, from Anglo-French punisement, Old French punissement; equivalent to punish + -ment
Explanation
Punishment is the penalty you have to pay when you're caught doing something bad. A teenager's punishment for missing her curfew might be helping her dad clean the garage. When someone is officially penalized for a mistake or a crime, that's punishment. Stealing a car could result in a punishment involving jail, while pinching your little sister might mean a punishment as mild as sitting in a chair and thinking about ways to be nicer next time. The Latin root of punishment and its related verb, punish, is punire, "punish, correct, take vengeance for, or cause pain for some offense."
Vocabulary lists containing punishment
Psychology
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"Nadia the Willful"
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The House of Hades
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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.
The 13th Amendment abolished involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime.
From Slate • Apr. 15, 2026
These rules also applied broad definitions on the kind of actions that would trigger punishment.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
She spoke of one audience member, a relative of someone who was murdered, who became more open to a debate about the merits of capital punishment after seeing the opera.
From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026
While Chisora has exceeded all expectations during his 19-year career, the punishment he has absorbed across 346 rounds is difficult to ignore.
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026
Even last night, before they’d run, Mama had been prepared to take a punishment that she hadn’t deserved, to give up her own freedom so that Koffi didn’t have to give up hers.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
