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.

In other words, every time I have self-punitive thought, he suggests I stop and tell myself: “I’m sorry. I love you. You don’t have to be anything other than what you are.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2017

But mostly they don't need be so self-punitive: it's more that they can get the details just as they want them, and then live in the house in ways that its design proposes.

From The Guardian • Apr. 21, 2013

It seems to be one of the self-punitive characteristics of tyranny, whether the tyrant be a man, a community, or a caste, to have a pusillanimous fear of its victim.

From The Grandissimes by Cable, George Washington