Punish

/ˈpʌnɪʃ/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).
2. (transitive, figuratively) To treat harshly and unfairly.
3. (transitive, colloquial) To handle or beat severely; to maul.
4. (transitive, colloquial) To consume a large quantity of.

Example Sentences

If a prince violates the law, then he must be punished like an ordinary person.

It was not from the want of proper laws that dangerous principles had been disseminated, and had assumed a threatening aspect, but because those laws had not been employed by the executive power to remedy the evil, and to punish the offenders.

The law needs to punish this behaviour as a deterrent to others.

But officials here maintain that their methods do make a difference, and they follow it up with post-release programs. The aim of Bastoy is not to punish or seek revenge, Nilsen said. The only punishment is to take away the prisoner’s right to be a free member of society.

His mother had punished him when he'd deserved it. She'd loved him, he was “all she had,” but she'd punished him, too.

But each effort that Anna makes —and she has attempted many— meets with obstacles from a welfare bureaucracy that punishes single mothers for initiative and partial economic self-sufficiency.

Homer, moreover, gives the impression that the Sun punished Odysseus's men; but we are later told that the Sun cannot punish individual men […]

The rider who comes back on his horse in mid-air over a fence is punishing his horse severely.

Synonyms for punish

Antonyms for punish

Related Words

Word Forms

• punishes
• punishing
• punished
• punishe

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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