punishment

[puhn-ish-muhnt]

noun

1. the act of punishing. punishing.

2. the fact of being punished, as for an offense or fault.

3. a penalty inflicted for an offense, fault, etc.

4. severe handling or treatment.

punishment

/ ˈpʌnɪʃmənt /

noun

1. a penalty or sanction given for any crime or offence

2. the act of punishing or state of being punished

3. informal,  rough treatment

4. 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of punishment¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English punysshement, from Anglo-French punisement, Old French punissement; equivalent to punish + -ment

Idioms and Phrases

see glutton for punishment.

Example Sentences

"Ordinary people don't care about the semantics, they want to see punishment, and public opinion is very much against Andrew, the Palace knows that, and the language very much reflect that".

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“One of the very first cases citing my book sent a man to his capital punishment,” he explained of an earlier dictionary.

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“You know who gets Emirati citizenship when they weren’t born in the UAE? People who are trying to evade punishment for crimes,” she wrote on X.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Many people on my team feel this is punishment for taking time off.

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He was a board member of Death Penalty Watch, an organization whose goal is to abolish the punishment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• abuse 
• beating 
• discipline 
• forfeiture 
• retribution 
• sanction 
• suffering 
• torture 
• trial