A word that means punishment

punishment — перевод на русский

/ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/

Because nothing… no sentence, no punishment, no revenge could ever come close to making up for what you’ve done.

Потому что ничего… никакой срок или наказание, ни одна месть и рядом не стоит с тем, что ты со мной сделал.

This is punishment for fooling with robots.

Это наказание за ваши махинации с роботами.

Your punishment will be decided later

Твое наказание я определю позже

You women sure take a lot of punishment.

Вы, женщины, покорно принимаете наказание.

Have you read Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky?

А «Преступление и наказание» Достоевского читали?

Показать ещё примеры для «наказание»…

John Mayer must definitely receive his punishment.

Джона Майера… следует строго наказать.

Punishment on Ishida!

Наказать Ишиду!

Give her punishment!

Наказать!

I will think about their punishment later.

Позже я подумаю, как наказать их.

I will decide about your punishment later.

Я решу позже как тебя наказать.

Показать ещё примеры для «наказать»…

The punishment for sinful lust is the worst of all.

Кара за грех страсти самая страшная.

Tenchu! ‘Heaven’s Punishment’!

Кара небес!

Say ‘Heaven’s Punishment’.

Главное — это «Кара небес»!

His punishment will be greater.

Его кара будет огромной.

Stanley’s punishment is level 9. He will man the bellows there until his arms and legs give out, and then he will lose his head.

У Стэнли кара девятого уровня – будет качать мехи, пока не откажут руки и ноги и не отлетит голова.

Показать ещё примеры для «кара»…

— The Tribune is now calling for capital punishment.

В «Геллен Трибюн» призывают к смертной казни.

He’s just jumpy cause we’ve been talkin’ about capital punishment.

Он дергается, потому что мы говорили о смертной казни

Your speech was the best against capital punishment I’ve heard in years

Может, если бы иначе… Ваше выступление… против смертной казни было, пожалуй, наилучшим, из тех, что я слышал.

And don’t forget the polls show the American people want capital punishment and they want a balanced budget and I think even in a fake democracy people ought to get what they want once in a while just to feed this illusion

И не забудьте провести общественный опрос Что думают американцы о смертной казни и о бюджете Я думаю что даже при лже-демократии люди имеют право получать то чего хотят хотя бы изредка чтобы подпитать иллюзию что они что-то решают.

A perfect argument for capital punishment.

Идеальный аргумент для смертной казни.

Показать ещё примеры для «смертной казни»…

He’ll find out that the penalty of the court Is always the smallest punishment.

Человек не может быть наказан в зале суда сильнее, чем самой жизнью.

You deserve punishment for this foul.

Фоп должен быть наказан.

By order of His Majesty the King of Oudh, the public is warned that there will be severe punishment for anyone spreading rumors that the Company is taking over our realm. The Company forces are not marching on Lucknow.

Его величество, король Авада, повелевает, что каждый, кто будет разносить слухи о будущем переходе власти в султанате в руки Компании будет арестован, объявлен преступником и сурово наказан.

For punishment you’ll sit still, and don’t you budge!

ТЫ НАКАЗАН, СИДИ, И НИ С МЕСТА

Now. Punishment.

А теперь ты наказан.

Показать ещё примеры для «наказан»…

— The end… The culprit’s punishment is included in the ticket price.

В детективах виновного всегда наказывают.

The punishment for such an offense is flogging round the fleet, I believe.

За такое нарушение наказывают публичной поркой, кажется.

— You get a little punishment.

— Вас слегка наказывают. — Меня слегка наказывают.

Although I don’t know why I’m receiving your thousand punishments with you.

Хотя не понимаю, почему и меня заодно с тобой наказывают.

Like when they send you to your room in punishment, because then you will no longer want to be there.

Например, когда тебя наказывают и оставляют в твоей комнате, тогда ты не хочешь быть там.

Показать ещё примеры для «наказывают»…

However if it gets proved that you had opened my trunk then the appropriate punishment for that you have to face it.

Если расследование покажет, что ты вскрыл мой сейф, тебе прийдется понести наказание.

She said she wants to receive her punishment now.

Говорит, что готова понести наказание.

I know it was wrong, sneaking off like that, but I was trying to help my family through a difficult time and I’m prepared to accept my punishment.

Знаю, нельзя было так, втихаря, но я пыталась помочь родственникам в трудное время, и готова понести наказание.

I’m more willing to face punishment than to live knowing what he will do to you.

Лучше я понесу наказание, чем буду жить зная, что Апофис сделает с тобой.

I’m the only one who deserves punishment for this

Они и не собирались учиться. Только я понесу наказание за это.

Показать ещё примеры для «понести наказание»…

You let me talk because you know hearing my words is punishment enough.

Ты позволяешь мне говорить, потому что знаешь, что мои слова для меня достаточное наказание.

That’s punishment enough for a farmer who deals primarily with sheep.

Достаточное наказание для фермера, что имеет дело преимущественно с овцами.

Robert, honey, Caroline clearly used very bad judgment, but don’t you think spending a night in jail is punishment enough?

Роберт, дорогой, Кэролайн совершила большую ошибку. Но тебе не кажется, что ночь в тюрьме — достаточное наказание?

I… guess that’s punishment enough.

Думаю, это достаточное наказание.

Isn’t that just cruel and unusual punishment?

Разве это не достаточное наказание?

Показать ещё примеры для «достаточное наказание»…

«Do you believe in capital punishment for murder?»

«Вы поддерживаете смертную казнь за убийство?»

Your speech was probably the best speech… against capital punishment that I’ve heard in years

Ваша речь, осуждающая смертную казнь, была лучшей из того, что я слышал за последние годы.

Let’s use capital punishment the same way we use sports and television in this country to distract people and take their minds off how bad their being fucked by the upper 1%.

Так давайте же использовать смертную казнь для того же для чего мы используем спорт и ТВ в этой стране Для того чтобы занимать умы народа и отвлекать его от мысли о том как сильно 1% властьдержащих имеет этот самый народ.

The Torah doesn’t prohibit capital punishment.

Тора не запрещает смертную казнь.

I’m the leader of a democracy. 71 % of the people support capital punishment.

Я лидер демократов, Том. 71% людей поддерживает смертную казнь.

Показать ещё примеры для «смертную»…

-As punishment, their law demands that our ship be dismantled.

— В качестве наказания, их закон требует, чтобы наш корабль был демонтирован.

Officer Lee Sun-Ae was transfered as a punishment to the traffic department.

Офицер Ли Сун Э в качестве наказания была переведена в дорожное управление.

That’s why this time when kids died, it wasn’t punishment enough to sacrifice your life to your parents, as you did.

Поэтому сейчас, когда погибли дети, в качестве наказания недостаточно было пожертвовать вашей жизнью ради родителей, как вы и поступили.

He wants The Ash replaced as a punishment, wounded ornot.

Он хочет замены Эша в качестве наказания, живым или мертвым.

Like a punishment?

В качестве наказания?

Показать ещё примеры для «качестве наказания»…

Отправить комментарий

Other forms: punishments

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.»

Definitions of punishment

  1. noun

    the act of punishing

    synonyms:

    penalisation, penalization, penalty, sanction

    see moresee less

    types:

    show 19 types…
    hide 19 types…
    castigation, chastisement

    verbal punishment

    corporal punishment

    the infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime

    cruel and unusual punishment

    punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed

    detention

    a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home

    correction, discipline

    the act of punishing

    economic strangulation

    punishment of a group by cutting off commercial dealings with them

    imprisonment

    putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment

    medicine, music

    punishment for one’s actions

    self-punishment

    punishment inflicted on yourself

    stick

    threat of a penalty

    penance, self-abasement, self-mortification

    voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing

    beating, drubbing, lacing, licking, thrashing, trouncing, whacking

    the act of inflicting corporal punishment with repeated blows

    self-flagellation

    self-punishment inflicted by whipping

    spanking

    the act of slapping on the buttocks

    electric shock

    the use of electricity to administer punishment or torture

    capital punishment, death penalty, executing, execution

    putting a condemned person to death

    gantlet, gauntlet

    a form of punishment in which a person is forced to run between two lines of men facing each other and armed with clubs or whips to beat the victim

    kick in the butt

    punishment inflicted by kicking the victim in the behind

    lapidation, stoning

    the act of pelting with stones; punishment inflicted by throwing stones at the victim (even unto death)

    type of:

    social control

    control exerted (actively or passively) by group action

DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘punishment’.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
Send us feedback

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Look up punishment for the last time

Close your vocabulary gaps with personalized learning that focuses on teaching the
words you need to know.

VocabTrainer - Vocabulary.com's Vocabulary Trainer

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.

Get started

Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority[1][2][3][4]—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behavior that is deemed undesirable or unacceptable.[5] It is, however, possible to distinguish between various different understandings of what punishment is.[6]

The reasoning for punishment may be to condition a child to avoid self-endangerment, to impose social conformity (in particular, in the contexts of compulsory education or military discipline[7]), to defend norms, to protect against future harms (in particular, those from violent crime), and to maintain the law—and respect for rule of law—under which the social group is governed.[8][9][10][11][12] Punishment may be self-inflicted as with self-flagellation and mortification of the flesh in the religious setting, but is most often a form of social coercion.

The unpleasant imposition may include a fine,[13] penalty, or confinement, or be the removal or denial of something pleasant or desirable. The individual may be a person, or even an animal. The authority may be either a group or a single person, and punishment may be carried out formally under a system of law or informally in other kinds of social settings such as within a family.[9] Negative consequences that are not authorized or that are administered without a breach of rules are not considered to be punishment as defined here.[11] The study and practice of the punishment of crimes, particularly as it applies to imprisonment, is called penology, or, often in modern texts, corrections; in this context, the punishment process is euphemistically called «correctional process».[14] Research into punishment often includes similar research into prevention.

Justifications for punishment include retribution,[15] deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. The last could include such measures as isolation, in order to prevent the wrongdoer’s having contact with potential victims, or the removal of a hand in order to make theft more difficult.[16]

If only some of the conditions included in the definition of punishment are present, descriptions other than «punishment» may be considered more accurate. Inflicting something negative, or unpleasant, on a person or animal, without authority or not on the basis of a breach of rules is typically considered only revenge or spite rather than punishment.[11] In addition, the word «punishment» is used as a metaphor, as when a boxer experiences «punishment» during a fight. In other situations, breaking a rule may be rewarded, and so receiving such a reward naturally does not constitute punishment. Finally the condition of breaking (or breaching) the rules must be satisfied for consequences to be considered punishment.[11]

Punishments differ in their degree of severity, and may include sanctions such as reprimands, deprivations of privileges or liberty, fines, incarcerations, ostracism, the infliction of pain,[17] amputation and the death penalty.
Corporal punishment refers to punishments in which physical pain is intended to be inflicted upon the transgressor.
Punishments may be judged as fair or unfair[18] in terms of their degree of reciprocity and proportionality[10] to the offense.
Punishment can be an integral part of socialization, and punishing unwanted behavior is often part of a system of pedagogy or behavioral modification which also includes rewards.[19]

Definitions[edit]

Hester Prynne at the Stocks—an engraved illustration from an 1878 edition of The Scarlet Letter

Punishment of an offender in Hungary, 1793

There are a large number of different understandings of what punishment is.[6]

In philosophy[edit]

Various philosophers have presented definitions of punishment.[8][9][10][11][12] Conditions commonly considered necessary properly to describe an action as punishment are that

  1. it is imposed by an authority (single or multiple),
  2. it involves some loss to the supposed offender,
  3. it is in response to an offense and
  4. the human (or other animal) to whom the loss is imposed should be deemed at least somewhat responsible for the offense.

In psychology[edit]

Introduced by B.F. Skinner, punishment has a more restrictive and technical definition. Along with reinforcement it belongs under the operant conditioning category. Operant conditioning refers to learning with either punishment (often confused as negative reinforcement) or a reward that serves as a positive reinforcement of the lesson to be learned.[20] In psychology, punishment is the reduction of a behavior via application of an unpleasant stimulus («positive punishment») or removal of a pleasant stimulus («negative punishment»). Extra chores or spanking are examples of positive punishment, while removing an offending student’s recess or play privileges are examples of negative punishment. The definition requires that punishment is only determined after the fact by the reduction in behavior; if the offending behavior of the subject does not decrease, it is not considered punishment. There is some conflation of punishment and aversives, though an aversion that does not decrease behavior is not considered punishment in psychology.[21][22] Additionally, «aversive stimulus» is a label behaviorists generally apply to negative reinforcers (as in avoidance learning), rather than the punishers.

In socio-biology[edit]

Punishment is sometimes called retaliatory or moralistic aggression;[23] it has been observed in all[clarification needed] species of social animals, leading evolutionary biologists to conclude that it is an evolutionarily stable strategy, selected because it favors cooperative behavior.[24][25]

Examples against sociobiological use[edit]

One criticism of the claim of all social animals being evolutionarily hardwired for punishment comes from studies of animals, such as the octopuses near Capri, Italy that suddenly formed communal cultures from having, until then lived solitary lives. During a period of heavy fishing and tourism that encroached on their territory, they started to live in groups, learning from each other, especially hunting techniques. Small, younger octopuses could be near the fully grown octopuses without being eaten by them, even though they, like other Octopus vulgaris, were cannibals until just before the group formation.[citation needed] The authors stress that this behavior change happened too fast to be a genetic characteristic in the octopuses, and that there were certainly no mammals or other «naturally» social animals punishing octopuses for cannibalism involved. The authors also note that the octopuses adopted observational learning without any evolutionary history of specialized adaptation for it.[26][27]

There are also arguments against the notion of punishment requiring intelligence, based on studies of punishment in very small-brained animals such as insects. There is proof of honey bee workers with mutations that makes them fertile laying eggs only when other honey bees are not observing them, and that the few that are caught in the act are killed.[citation needed] This is corroborated by computer simulations proving that a few simple reactions well within mainstream views of the extremely limited intelligence of insects are sufficient to emulate the «political» behavior observed in great apes. The authors argue that this falsifies the claim that punishment evolved as a strategy to deal with individuals capable of knowing what they are doing.[28]

In the case of more complex brains, the notion of evolution selecting for specific punishment of intentionally chosen breaches of rules and/or wrongdoers capable of intentional choices (for example, punishing humans for murder while not punishing lethal viruses) is subject to criticism from coevolution issues. That punishment of individuals with certain characteristics (including but, in principle, not restricted to mental abilities) selects against those characteristics, making evolution of any mental abilities considered to be the basis for penal responsibility impossible in populations subject to such selective punishment. Certain scientists argue that this disproves the notion of humans having a biological feeling of intentional transgressions deserving to be punished.[29][30][31]

Scope of application[edit]

Punishments are applied for various purposes, most generally, to encourage and enforce proper behavior as defined by society or family. Criminals are punished judicially, by fines, corporal punishment or custodial sentences such as prison; detainees risk further punishments for breaches of internal rules.[32] Children, pupils and other trainees may be punished by their educators or instructors (mainly parents, guardians, or teachers, tutors and coaches)—see Child discipline.

Slaves, domestic and other servants are subject to punishment by their masters. Employees can still be subject to a contractual form of fine or demotion. Most hierarchical organizations, such as military and police forces, or even churches, still apply quite rigid internal discipline, even with a judicial system of their own (court martial, canonical courts).

Punishment may also be applied on moral, especially religious, grounds, as in penance (which is voluntary) or imposed in a theocracy with a religious police (as in a strict Islamic state like Iran or under the Taliban) or (though not a true theocracy) by Inquisition.

Hell as punishment[edit]

Belief that an individual’s ultimate punishment is being sent by God, the highest authority, to an existence in Hell, a place believed to exist in the after-life, typically corresponds to sins committed during their life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each sin committed (see for example Plato’s myth of Er or Dante’s The Divine Comedy), but sometimes they are general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of Hell or to a level of suffering.

History and rationale[edit]

Seriousness of a crime; Punishment that fits the crime[edit]

A principle often mentioned with respect to the degree of punishment to be meted out is that the punishment should match the crime.[33][34][35]
One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed.[36]
A felony is generally considered to be a crime of «high seriousness», while a misdemeanor is not.

Possible reasons for punishment[edit]

There are many possible reasons that might be given to justify or explain why someone ought to be punished; here follows a broad outline of typical, possibly conflicting, justifications.

Deterrence[edit]

Two reasons given to justify punishment[16] is that it is a measure to prevent people from committing an offence — deterring previous offenders from re-offending, and preventing those who may be contemplating an offence they have not committed from actually committing it. This punishment is intended to be sufficient that people would choose not to commit the crime rather than experience the punishment. The aim is to deter everyone in the community from committing offences.

Some criminologists state that the number of people convicted for crime does not decrease as a result of more severe punishment and conclude that deterrence is ineffective.[37] Other criminologists object to said conclusion, citing that while most people do not know the exact severity of punishment such as whether the sentence for murder is 40 years or life, most people still know the rough outlines such as the punishments for armed robbery or forcible rape being more severe than the punishments for driving too fast or misparking a car. These criminologists therefore argue that lack of deterring effect of increasing the sentences for already severely punished crimes say nothing about the significance of the existence of punishment as a deterring factor.[38][39]

Some criminologists argue that increasing the sentences for crimes can cause criminal investigators to give higher priority to said crimes so that a higher percentage of those committing them are convicted for them, causing statistics to give a false appearance of such crimes increasing. These criminologists argue that the use of statistics to gauge the efficiency of crime fighting methods are a danger of creating a reward hack that makes the least efficient criminal justice systems appear to be best at fighting crime, and that the appearance of deterrence being ineffective may be an example of this.[40][41][42]

Rehabilitation[edit]

Some punishment includes work to reform and rehabilitate the culprit so that they will not commit the offence again.[16] This is distinguished from deterrence, in that the goal here is to change the offender’s attitude to what they have done, and make them come to see that their behavior was wrong.

Incapacitation[edit]

Incapacitation as a justification of punishment[16] refers to the offender’s ability to commit further offences being removed. Imprisonment separates offenders from the community, for example, Australia was a dumping ground for early British criminals. This was their way of removing or reducing the offenders ability to carry out certain crimes. The death penalty does this in a permanent (and irrevocable) way. In some societies, people who stole have been punished by having their hands amputated.

Retribution[edit]

Criminal activities typically give a benefit to the offender and a loss to the victim.[43][44][45][46] Punishment has been justified as a measure of retributive justice,[16][47][48][49] in which the goal is to try to rebalance any unjust advantage gained by ensuring that the offender also suffers a loss. Sometimes viewed as a way of «getting even» with a wrongdoer—the suffering of the wrongdoer is seen as a desired goal in itself, even if it has no restorative benefits for the victim. One reason societies have administered punishments is to diminish the perceived need for retaliatory «street justice», blood feud, and vigilantism.

Restoration[edit]

Especially applied to minor offenses, punishment may take the form of the offender «righting the wrong», or making restitution to the victim. Community service or compensation orders are examples of this sort of penalty.[50] In models of restorative justice, victims take an active role in a process with their offenders who are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, «to repair the harm they’ve done—by apologizing, returning stolen money, or community service.»[51] The restorative justice approach aims to help the offender want to avoid future offences.

Education and denunciation[edit]

Punishment can be explained by positive prevention theory to use the criminal justice system to teach people what are the social norms for what is correct, and acts as a reinforcement.

Punishment can serve as a means for society to publicly express denunciation of an action as being criminal. Besides educating people regarding what is not acceptable behavior, it serves the dual function of preventing vigilante justice by acknowledging public anger, while concurrently deterring future criminal activity by stigmatizing the offender.
This is sometimes called the «Expressive Theory» of denunciation.[52]
The pillory was a method for carrying out public denunciation.[citation needed]

Some critics of the education and denunciation model cite evolutionary problems with the notion that a feeling for punishment as a social signal system evolved if punishment was not effective. The critics argue that some individuals spending time and energy and taking risks in punishing others, and the possible loss of the punished group members, would have been selected against if punishment served no function other than signals that could evolve to work by less risky means.[53][54][page needed]

Unified theory[edit]

A unified theory of punishment brings together multiple penal purposes—such as retribution, deterrence and rehabilitation—in a single, coherent framework. Instead of punishment requiring we choose between them, unified theorists argue that they work together as part of some wider goal such as the protection of rights.[55]

Criticism[edit]

Some people think that punishment as a whole is unhelpful and even harmful to the people that it is used against.[56][57] Detractors argue that punishment is simply wrong, of the same design as «two wrongs make a right». Critics argue that punishment is simply revenge. Professor Deirdre Golash, author of The Case against Punishment: Retribution, Crime Prevention, and the Law, says:

We ought not to impose such harm on anyone unless we have a very good reason for doing so. This remark may seem trivially true, but the history of humankind is littered with examples of the deliberate infliction of harm by well-intentioned persons in the vain pursuit of ends which that harm did not further, or in the successful pursuit of questionable ends. These benefactors of humanity sacrificed their fellows to appease mythical gods and tortured them to save their souls from a mythical hell, broke and bound the feet of children to promote their eventual marriageability, beat slow schoolchildren to promote learning and respect for teachers, subjected the sick to leeches to rid them of excess blood, and put suspects to the rack and the thumbscrew in the service of truth. They schooled themselves to feel no pity—to renounce human compassion in the service of a higher end. The deliberate doing of harm in the mistaken belief that it promotes some greater good is the essence of tragedy. We would do well to ask whether the goods we seek in harming offenders are worthwhile, and whether the means we choose will indeed secure them.[58]

Golash also writes about imprisonment:

Imprisonment means, at minimum, the loss of liberty and autonomy, as well as many material comforts, personal security, and access to heterosexual relations. These deprivations, according to Gresham Sykes (who first identified them) “together dealt ‘a profound hurt’ that went to ‘the very foundations of the prisoner’s being.
But these are only the minimum harms, suffered by the least vulnerable inmates in the best-run prisons. Most prisons are run badly, and in some, conditions are more squalid than in the worst of slums. In the District of Columbia jail, for example, inmates must wash their clothes and sheets in cell toilets because the laundry machines are broken. Vermin and insects infest the building, in which air vents are clogged with decades’ accumulation of dust and grime. But even inmates in prisons where conditions are sanitary must still face the numbing boredom and emptiness of prison life—a vast desert of wasted days in which little in the way of meaningful activity is possible.[58]

Destructiveness to thinking and betterment[edit]

There are critics of punishment who argue that punishment aimed at intentional actions forces people to suppress their ability to act on intent. Advocates of this viewpoint argue that such suppression of intention causes the harmful behaviors to remain, making punishment counterproductive. These people suggest that the ability to make intentional choices should instead be treasured as a source of possibilities of betterment, citing that complex cognition would have been an evolutionarily useless waste of energy if it led to justifications of fixed actions and no change as simple inability to understand arguments would have been the most thrifty protection from being misled by them if arguments were for social manipulation, and reject condemnation of people who intentionally did bad things.[59] Punishment can be effective in stopping undesirable employee behaviors such as tardiness, absenteeism or substandard work performance. However, punishment does not necessarily cause an employee to demonstrate a desirable behavior.[60]

See also[edit]

  • Capital punishment
    • Capital and corporal punishment in Judaism
    • List of capital crimes in the Torah
    • List of methods of capital punishment
    • List of people burned as heretics
    • List of people executed for witchcraft
    • Religion and capital punishment
  • Coercion
  • Corporal punishment
  • Devaluation
  • Discipline (BDSM)
  • Hudud
  • Intimidation
  • Nulla poena sine lege
  • Preventive state
  • Suffering
  • Telishment

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Edwards, Jonathan (1824). «The salvation of all men strictly examined: and the endless punishment of those who die impenitent : argued and defended against the objections and reasonings of the late Rev. Doctor Chauncy, of Boston ; in his book entitled «The Salvation of all Men,» &c». C. Ewer and T. Bedlington, 1824: 157.
  2. ^ Bingham, Joseph (1712). «Volume 1 of A Scholastical History Of The Practice of the Church In Reference to the Administration of Baptism By Laymen». A Scholastical History of the Practice of the Church in Reference to the Administration of Baptism by Laymen. Knaplock, 1712. 1: 25.
  3. ^ Grotius, Hugo (1715). «H. Grotius of the Rights of War and Peace: In Three Volumes: in which are Explain’d the Laws and Claims of Nature and Nations, and the Principal Points that Relate Either to Publick Government, Or the Conduct of Private Life: Together with the Author’s Own Notes: Done Into English…, Volume 2». H. Grotius of the Rights of War and Peace: In Three Volumes: In Which Are Explain’d the Laws and Claims of Nature and Nations, and the Principal Points That Relate Either to Publick Government, or the Conduct of Private Life: Together with the Author’s Own Notes: Done into English by Several Hands: With the Addition of the Author’s Life by the Translators: Dedicated to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Hugo Grotius. D. Brown…, T. Ward…, and W. Meares, 1715. 2: 524.
  4. ^ Casper, Johann Ludwig (1864). «A Handbook of the practice of forensic medicine v. 3 1864». A Handbook of the Practice of Forensic Medicine. New Sydenham Society. 3: 2.
  5. ^ Lee Hansen, Marcus (1918). «Old Fort Snelling, 1819-1858». Mid-America Series. State Historical Society of Iowa, 1918: 124.
  6. ^ a b Gade, Christian B. N. (2020). «Is restorative justice punishment?». Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 38 (3): 127–155. doi:10.1002/crq.21293.
  7. ^ Navy Department, United States (1940). «Compilation of Court-martial Orders, 1916-1937, 1940-41». Compilation of Court-martial Orders, 1916-1937, 1940-41: 648.
  8. ^ a b
    Hugo, Adam Bedau (February 19, 2010). «Punishment, Crime and the State». Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2010-08-04. The search for a precise definition of punishment that exercised some philosophers (for discussion and references see Scheid 1980) is likely to prove futile: but we can say that legal punishment involves the imposition of something that is intended to be burdensome or painful, on a supposed offender for a supposed crime, by a person or body who claims the authority to do so.
  9. ^ a b c and violates the law or rules by which the group is governed.
    McAnany, Patrick D. (August 2010). «Punishment». Online. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2010-08-04. Punishment describes the imposition by some authority of a deprivation—usually painful—on a person who has violated a law, rule, or other norm. When the violation is of the criminal law of society there is a formal process of accusation and proof followed by imposition of a sentence by a designated official, usually a judge. Informally, any organized group—most typically the family, in rearing children—may punish perceived wrongdoers.
  10. ^ a b c
    Hugo, Adam Bedau (February 19, 2010). «Theory of Punishment». Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2010-08-04. Punishment under law… is the authorized imposition of deprivations—of freedom or privacy or other goods to which the person otherwise has a right, or the imposition of special burdens—because the person has been found guilty of some criminal violation, typically (though not invariably) involving harm to the innocent. (The classical formulation, conspicuous in Hobbes, for example, defines punishment by reference to imposing pain rather than to deprivations.) This definition, although imperfect because of its brevity, does allow us to bring out several essential points.
  11. ^ a b c d e
    Peters, Richard Stanley (1966). «Ethics and Education». British Journal of Educational Studies. 20 (3): 267–68. JSTOR 3120772. Punishment… involves the intentional infliction of pain or of something unpleasant on someone who has committed a breach of rules… by someone who is in authority, who has a right to act in this way. Otherwise, it would be impossible to distinguish ‘punishment’ from ‘revenge’. People in authority can, of course, inflict pain on people at whim. But this would be called ‘spite’ unless it were inflicted as a consequence of a breach of rules on the part of the sufferer. Similarly a person in authority might give a person £5 as a consequence of his breaking a rule. But unless this were regarded as painful or at least unpleasant for the recipient it could not be counted as a case of ‘punishment’. In other words at least three criteria of (i) intentional infliction of pain (ii) by someone in authority (iii) on a person as a consequence of a breach of rules on his part, must be satisfied if we are to call something a case of ‘punishment’. There are, as is usual in such cases, examples that can be produced which do not satisfy all criteria. For instance there is a colloquialism which is used about boxers taking a lot of punishment from their opponents, in which only the first condition is present. But this is a metaphorical use which is peripheral to the central use of the term.

    In so far as the different ‘theories’ of punishment are answers to questions about the meaning of ‘punishment’, only the retributive theory is a possible one. There is no conceptual connection between ‘punishment’ and notions like those of ‘deterrence’, ‘prevention’ and ‘reform’. For people can be punished without being prevented from repeating the offence, and without being made any better. It is also a further question whether they themselves or anyone else is deterred from committing the offence by punishment. But ‘punishment’ must involve ‘retribution’, for ‘retribution’ implies doing something to someone in return for what he has done…. Punishment, therefore, must be retributive—by definition.

  12. ^ a b
    Kleining, John (October 1972). «R.S. Peters on Punishment». British Journal of Educational Studies. 20 (3): 259–69. doi:10.1080/00071005.1972.9973352. JSTOR 3120772. Unpleasantness inflicted without authority is revenge, and if whimsical, is spite…. There is no conceptual connection between punishment, or deterrence, or reform, for people can be punished without being prevented from repeating the offence, and without being made better. And it is also a further question whether they themselves, or anyone else is deterred from committing the offence by punishment.
  13. ^ Amis, S. (1773). «Association for the Prosecution of Felons (WEST BROMWICH)». The British Library: 5.
  14. ^ Mary Stohr; Anthony Walsh; Craig Hemmens (2008). Corrections: A Text/Reader. Sage. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4129-3773-3.
  15. ^ Congress. House. Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, United States. Committee on Financial Services. and Government Sponsored Enterprises (2003). H.R. 2179, the Securities Fraud Deterrence and Investor Restitution Act of 2003 Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises of the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, First Session, June 5, 2003. Purdue University: Committee on Financial Services. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-16-070942-5.
  16. ^ a b c d e McAnany, Patrick D. (August 2010). «Justification for punishment (Punishment)». Online. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2010-09-16. Because punishment is both painful and guilt producing, its application calls for a justification. In Western culture, four basic justifications have been given: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. The history of formal punitive systems is one of a gradual transition from familial and tribal authority to the authority of organized society. Although parents today retain much basic authority to discipline their children, physical beatings and other severe deprivations—once widely tolerated—may now be called child abuse
  17. ^ M., A, Frankenhaeuser, Rissler (1970). «Effects of punishment on catecholamine release and efficiency of performance». Psychopharmacologia. 17 (5): 378–390. doi:10.1007/BF00403809. PMID 5522998. S2CID 9187358.
  18. ^ C., Mungan, Murat (2019). «Salience and the severity versus the certainty of punishment». International Review of Law and Economics. 57: 95–100. doi:10.1016/j.irle.2019.01.002. S2CID 147798726.
  19. ^ Diana Kendall (2009). Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials (7th revised ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-59862-6.
  20. ^ W, J.C, Furman, Masters (1980). «Affective consequences of social reinforcement, punishment, and neutral behavior». Developmental Psychology. 16 (2): 100–104. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.16.2.100.
  21. ^ I, Lorge (1933). «The effect of the initial chances for right responses upon the efficacy of intensified reward and of intensified punishment». Journal of Experimental Psychology. 16 (3): 362–373. doi:10.1037/h0070228.
  22. ^ Church, R.M. (1963). «The varied effects of punishment on behavior». Psychological Review. 70 (5): 369–402. doi:10.1037/h0046499. PMID 14049776.
  23. ^ T.H., G.A., Clutton-brock, Parker (1995). «Punishment in animal societies». Nature. 373 (6511): 209–216. Bibcode:1995Natur.373..209C. doi:10.1038/373209a0. PMID 7816134. S2CID 21638607.
  24. ^ Mary Stohr; Anthony Walsh; Craig Hemmens (2008). Corrections: A Text/Reader. Sage. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-4129-3773-3.
  25. ^ Fehr, Gätcher, Ernst, Simon (10 January 2002). «Altruistic punishment in humans». Nature. 415 (6868): 137–140. Bibcode:2002Natur.415..137F. doi:10.1038/415137a. PMID 11805825. S2CID 4310962.
  26. ^ «Observational Learning in Octopus vulgaris.» Graziano Fiorito, Pietro Scotto. 1992.
  27. ^ Aliens of the deep sea, documentary. 2011.
  28. ^ How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence, Rolf Pfeifer, Josh Bongard, foreword by Rodney Brooks. 2006
  29. ^ Friedrich Nietzsche (1886). Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future
  30. ^ Allen, Elizabeth, et al. (1975). «Against ‘Sociobiology'». [letter] New York Review of Books 22 (Nov. 13).
  31. ^ Dawkins, Richard (1979). Twelve misunderstandings of kin selection
  32. ^ Lyman Julius Nash, Wisconsin (1919). «Wisconsin Statutes». Legislative Reference Bureau, 1919. 1: 2807–2808.
  33. ^ Doing Justice – The Choice of Punishments, A Vonhirsch, 1976, p. 220
  34. ^
    Criminology, Larry J. Siegel
  35. ^
    ”An Economic Analysis of the Criminal Law as Preference-Shaping Policy”, Duke Law Journal, Feb 1990, Vol. 1, Kenneth Dau-Schmidt
  36. ^ Lynch, James P.; Danner, Mona J.E. (1993). «Offense Seriousness Scaling: An Alternative to Scenario Methods». Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 9 (3): 309–22. doi:10.1007/BF01064464. S2CID 144528020.
  37. ^ reference | J. Mitchell Miller | 2009 | 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook
  38. ^ reference | Gennaro F. Vito, Jeffrey R. Maahs | 2015 | Criminology
  39. ^ reference | Frank E. Hagan | 2010 | Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior
  40. ^ reference | Anthony Walsh, Craig Hemmens | 2008 | Introduction to Criminology: A Text/Reader
  41. ^ Ronald L. Akers (2013). Criminological Theories: Introduction and Evaluation
  42. ^ «What’s the Best Way to Discipline My Child?».
  43. ^ Sir William Draper, Junius (1772). «Lettres». Letters of Junius: 303–305.
  44. ^ D, Wittman (1974). «Punishment as retribution». Theory and Decision. 4 (3–4): 209–237. doi:10.1007/BF00136647. S2CID 153961464.
  45. ^ Blackwood, William (1830). «The Southern Review. Vol. V. February and May, 1830». The Southern Review. Michigan State University: William Blackwood. 5: 871.
  46. ^ Raworth, John (1644). Buchanan, David (ed.). «The Historie of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland Containing Five Books, Together with Some Treatises Conducing to the History»: 358.
  47. ^ Falls, Margaret (April 1987). «Retribution, Reciprocity, and Respect for Persons». Law and Philosophy. 6 (1): 25–51. doi:10.1007/BF00142639. JSTOR 3504678. S2CID 144282576.
  48. ^ K. M., Carlsmith (2006). «The roles of retribution and utility in determining punishment». Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 42 (4): 437–451. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.06.007.
  49. ^ Popping, S. (1710). True Passive Obedience Restor’d in 1710. In a Dialogue Between a Country-man and a True Patriot. The British Library: S. Popping. p. 8.
  50. ^ «restitution». La-articles.org.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  51. ^ «A New Kind of Criminal Justice», Parade, October 25, 2009, p. 6.
  52. ^ «Theory, Sources, and Limitations of Criminal Law». Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  53. ^ J. Robert Lilly, Francis T. Cullen, Richard A. Ball (2014). Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences
  54. ^ Tim Newburn 2017 Criminology
  55. ^ «Thom Brooks on Unified Theory of Punishment». Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  56. ^ G.T, Gwinn (1949). «The effects of punishment on acts motivated by fear». Journal of Experimental Psychology. 39 (2): 260–69. doi:10.1037/h0062431. PMID 18125723.
  57. ^ Edgeworth, Edgeworth, Maria, Richard Lovell (1825). Works of Maria Edgeworth: Practical education. 1825. the University of California: S. H. Parker. p. 149.
  58. ^ a b «The Case against Punishment: Retribution, Crime Prevention, and the Law — 2004, Page III by Deirdre Golash».[dead link]
  59. ^ Mind, Brain and Education, Kurt Fischer, Christina Hinton
  60. ^ Milbourn, Gene Jr. (November 1996). «Punishment in the workplace creates undesirable side effects». Retrieved November 21, 2018.

References[edit]

  • «Punishment» . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 653.
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Punishment
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Legal Punishment
  • Etymology Online
  • Brooks, Thom (2012). Punishment. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-85051-3.
  • Gade, Christian (2020). «Is restorative justice punishment?». Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 38 (3): 127–155. doi:10.1002/crq.21293.
  • Lippke, Richard (2001). «Criminal Offenders and Right Forfeiture». Journal of Social Philosophy. 32 (1): 78–89. doi:10.1111/0047-2786.00080.
  • Mack, Eric (2008). «Retribution for Crime». In Hamowy, Ronald (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; Cato Institute. pp. 429–431. doi:10.4135/9781412965811.n263. ISBN 978-1412965804. OCLC 750831024.
  • Zaibert, Leo (2006). Punishment and retribution. Hants, England: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0754623892.

External links[edit]

Look up punishment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

  • «Punishment». Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  • «The Moral Permissibility of Punishment». Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

2

a

: suffering, pain, or loss that serves as retribution

b

: a penalty inflicted on an offender through judicial procedure

3

: severe, rough, or disastrous treatment

Synonyms

Example Sentences



I took away my daughter’s car keys as a punishment for her bad behavior.



The punishments that the government has inflicted on the protesters are severe and unjust.



The punishment for murder is life imprisonment.



Some religions teach that wicked people will suffer eternal punishment in hell after they die.

Recent Examples on the Web

Laurence Fishburne as the Bowery King in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4.’ | Credit: Murray Close/Lionsgate/Everett As part of her clean-up duties, the Adjudicator disrupted the criminal empire of the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) as punishment for supplying John with the weapon used to kill Santino.


Christian Holub, EW.com, 24 Mar. 2023





Diaz, meanwhile, escaped with no punishment, the department confirmed in an e-mail last week.


Danny Mcdonald, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023





The company’s longtime executive, Allen Weisselberg, is currently serving jail time as punishment for dodging taxes on job perks.


Jill Colvin, Anchorage Daily News, 22 Mar. 2023





The fast isn’t meant as punishment or to torture those observing it.


Mirna Alsharif, NBC News, 22 Mar. 2023





The company’s longtime executive, Allen Weisselberg, is currently serving jail time as punishment for dodging taxes on job perks.


Jill Colvin, ajc, 22 Mar. 2023





The move was widely seen as a punishment for the company opposing the law.


Anthony Izaguirre, Fortune, 22 Mar. 2023





The company’s longtime executive, Allen Weisselberg, is currently serving jail time as punishment for dodging taxes on job perks.


Jill Colvin, Chicago Tribune, 22 Mar. 2023





According to Worrell’s email, Mina, whose office was not involved in the case, was displeased with Garcia’s punishment and noted he had since been arrested on a burglary charge.


Christopher Cann, Orlando Sentinel, 21 Mar. 2023



See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘punishment.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of punishment was
in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near punishment

Cite this Entry

“Punishment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punishment. Accessed 13 Apr. 2023.

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on punishment

Last Updated:
31 Mar 2023
— Updated example sentences

Subscribe to America’s largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Merriam-Webster unabridged

Contexts

A punishment imposed for breaking a law, rule, or contract

The infliction or imposition of a penalty as retribution for an offense

A monetary or financial penalty for breaking a law, rule, or contract

Rough treatment or handling

… more ▼

“Do the crime and punishment by the justice system will more than likely follow.”

“Furthermore, the French imposed a heavy tax as a financial punishment of all southern villages in the amount of 100,000 golden pounds.”

“The walls of the little cottage would absorb severe punishment in the tempestuous conditions.”

“This machine was not designed to take the sort of punishment it has been subjected to.”

The punishment assigned to a defendant found guilty by a court for a particular offense

(religion) A state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinner passes after death

pun·ish·ment

 (pŭn′ĭsh-mənt)

n.

1. The imposition of a penalty or deprivation for wrongdoing: the swift punishment of all offenders.

2. A penalty imposed for wrongdoing: «The severity of the punishment must … be in keeping with the kind of obligation which has been violated» (Simone Weil).

3. Rough treatment or use: These old skis have taken a lot of punishment over the years.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

punishment

(ˈpʌnɪʃmənt)

n

1. (Law) a penalty or sanction given for any crime or offence

2. (Law) the act of punishing or state of being punished

3. informal rough treatment

4. (Psychology) psychol any aversive stimulus administered to an organism as part of training

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

pun•ish•ment

(ˈpʌn ɪʃ mənt)

n.

1. the act of punishing.

2. the fact of being punished.

3. a penalty inflicted for an offense or fault.

4. severe handling or treatment.

[1250–1300; Middle English punysshement < Anglo-French punisement, Old French punissement. See punish, -ment]

Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Punishment

1. punishment or penalty applied at the discretion of a court or other authority, as contrasted with a penalty predetermined by statute.
2. the imposing of such a penalty. — amercer, n.

Humorous. advocacy of the use of a cane in corporal punishment.

Obsolete, the process of removing the tongue.

Obsolete, the act of castrating.

Obsolete, the process of blinding.

beating with a stick or club.

an abnormal fear of being beaten. Also called rhabdophobia.

an abnormal fear of punishment.

-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Punishment

 

the devil to pay Consequences to be suffered; a dear price to be paid; trouble, confusion, or a “fate worse than death” to be endured. The first and most convincing of the three possible origins of this expression is that it alludes to the alleged bargains made between the devil and an individual such as Faust, the chief character in a medieval legend who traded his soul for knowledge and power. Another popular explanation is that many London barristers mixed work and pleasure in an inn called the Devil Tavern in Fleet Street. Their excuse for working was that they had to pay the “Devil” for their drinks. Still other sources cite the significance of the nautical use of devil to pay and the longer devil to pay and no pitch hot The “devil” is a seam in a ship near the keel and “to pay” is to cover the seam with pitch. The difficulty of “paying the devil” is said to have given rise to the figurative uses of the devil to pay. This expression has been in print since the early 18th century. See also between the devil and the deep blue sea, PREDICAMENT.

get it in the neck To be reprimanded or disciplined; to be severely chastised; to bear the brunt. This expression has its origins in the punishment of decapitation, in which the guillotine’s blade cleaved off one’s head at the neck. Figuratively, the phrase usually refers to an undeserving victim of castigation or loss:

It’s the poor old vicar who gets it most in the neck. … He runs the risk of losing the best-kept-village competition because … the churchyard is looking its shaggiest. {Guardian, June, 1973)

The expression is not limited in application to that which has a neck, even a figurative one:

You probably don’t know what a village looks like when it has caught it in the neck. (D. O. Barnett, Letters, 1914)

get one’s lumps See ADVERSITY.

go to heaven in a wheelbarrow To be damned to eternal suffering; to go to hell. This obsolete expression has been traced to a window in Gloucestershire, England, depicting Satan wheeling away a termagant woman in a wheelbarrow.

This oppressor must needs go to heaven, … But it will be, as the by-word is, in a Wheel-barrow; the fiends, and not the Angels will take hold on him. (Thomas Adams, Gods Bounty, 1618)

See also go to hell in a handbasket, DEGENERATION.

heads will roll Those responsible will be held accountable; there’s trouble in the offing. This American slang expression is of fairly recent vintage, though it alludes to former times when beheading was common and heads literally did roll as a result of an enraged monarch’s fit of anger at his subjects’ incompetence, betrayal, or rebelliousness.

kiss the rod See SUBMISSIVENESS.

lower the boom To punish; to severely chastise or discipline; to prohibit. This expression originally described a nautical maneuver by which one of the ship’s booms was directed so as to knock an offending seaman overboard. The expression later developed into a prize fighting term for delivering a haymaker. In contemporary usage, the phrase is often applied to an activity which is abruptly terminated through anger or castigation.

Just as they were about to pawn my studs … my patience evaporated and I lowered the boom on them. (The New Yorker, June, 1951)

pin [someone’s] ears back See REPRIMAND.

ride on a rail To punish severely, to chastise mercilessly; to subject to public abuse and scorn; to banish, ostracize, or exile; in the latter sense usually to ride out of town on a rail. It was formerly the practice to punish a wrongdoer by seating him astride a rail, or horizontal beam, and then carrying him about town as an object of derision. Often he was then taken to the village limits and warned not to set foot in the town again under pain of yet more severe punishment.

The millmen … [hesitated whether to] ride him on a rail, or refresh him with an ablution at the town-pump. (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Twice Told Tales, 1837)

run the gauntlet See ADVERSITY.

send up the river To send to prison. This American expression originally referred to the incarceration of an offender at Sing Sing—a notorious correctional facility located up the Hudson River from New York City. The phrase has now been extended to include any imprisonment.

I done it. Send me up the river. Give me the hot seat. (Chicago Daily News, March, 1946)

stand the gaff See ENDURANCE.

send to Coventry To ostracize or exclude from society because of objectionable behavior; to refuse to associate with, to ignore. Several explanations have been proposed as to the origin of this expression. The most plausible was put forth by Edward Hyde Clarendon in A History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England (1647). It stated that citizens of a town called Bromigham were in the habit of attacking small groups of the King’s men and either killing them or taking them prisoner and sending them to Coventry, then a Parliamentary stronghold. A less plausible explanation maintains that the inhabitants of Coventry so hated soldiers that any social intercourse with them was strictly forbidden. Thus, a soldier sent to Coventry was as good as cut off from all social relations for the duration of his stay.

take the bark off To flog or chastise, to give one a hiding. This 19th-century Americanism, implying a flogging or whipping so severe as to flay one’s skin, likens the skin on a person to the bark on a tree.

The old man’s going to take the bark off both of us. (Johnson J. Hooper, The Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs, 1845)

take the rap To accept or be given the responsibility and punishment for a crime, especially one committed by another; to take the blame. Although this expression apparently employs rap in its sense of ‘blame or punishment,’ one source suggests that the phrase may in fact be a corruption of the theatrical take the nap ‘to be dealt a feigned blow.’

I don’t think though, I shall be able to take the nap much longer. (Era Almanach, 1877)
He carried the banner and took the rap for Roosevelt in the Senate for years. (Saturday Evening Post, July 2, 1949)

Related expressions are bum rap ‘a frame-up; a conviction for a crime of which one is innocent,’ and beat the rap ‘to be acquitted or absolved of blame,’ usually with the implication that one is indeed guilty.

[Senator] Kefauver [and his Congressional committee] realize that as dope peddling and boot-legging are made more difficult, the crooks will start looking for new ways to beat the rap. (P. Edson, AP wire story, September, 1951)

Rap itself is often used as a synonym for an arrest, a trial, or a jail sentence.

Gangs with influence can beat about 90% of their “raps” or arrests. (Emanuel Lavine, The Third Degree: A Detailed Exposé of Police Brutality, 1930)

tar and feather To punish harshly or castigate severely. This expression is derived from the brutal punishment in which the victim was doused with hot tar and subsequently covered with feathers. In 1189, this form of chastisement received royal sanction in England. While it was never ordained as a legal penalty in the United States, it nevertheless became a form of punishment by the masses for a crime or misdoing which fell outside the realm of the law. It retains frequent hyperbolic use.

throw the book at To give a convicted criminal the maximum penalty or sentence; to prosecute on the most serious of several charges stemming from a single incident, especially when it would be possible to try a person on a lesser charge; to accuse of several crimes. This expression conjures images of a judge’s referring to a law book to compile a list of all possible wrongdoings of which a prisoner may be accused, or a list of the most severe penalties that may be assessed for the crime(s) of which a person has been convicted.

He was formally charged with “breaking ranks while in formation, felonious assault, indiscriminate behaviour, mopery, high treason, provoking, being a smart guy, listening to classical music, and so on.” In short, they threw the book at him. (Joseph Heller, Catch-22, 1962)

Picturesque Expressions: A Thematic Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1980 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:3.4 / 7 votes

  1. punishmentnoun

    Synonyms:
    punition, castigation, beating

    Antonyms:
    reward

  2. punishmentnoun

    The act or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction.

    Synonyms:
    beating, castigation, punition

    Antonyms:
    reward

  3. punishmentnoun

    A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.

    Synonyms:
    beating, punition, castigation

    Antonyms:
    reward

  4. punishmentnoun

    A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution

    Synonyms:
    castigation, punition, beating

    Antonyms:
    reward

  5. punishmentnoun

    Any treatment or experience so harsh it feels like being punished; rough handling

    a vehicle that can take a lot of punishment

    Synonyms:
    beating, punition, castigation

    Antonyms:
    reward

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

  1. punishment

    Synonyms:
    cruelty, hardness, harshness, implacability, justice, penalty, revenge, rigor, severity, sternness, vengeance

    Antonyms:
    benevolence, benignity, blessing, clemency, compassion, favor, forbearance, forgiveness, gentleness, grace, kindness, lenience, leniency, lenity, mercy, mildness, pardon, pardon, pity, tenderness

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. punishmentnoun

    Synonyms:
    chastisement, castigation, scourging, discipline, penalty, visitation, retaliation, retribution, infliction

    Antonyms:
    immunity, impunity, acquittal, exoneration

    Associated words:
    penal, penology, punitive, penologist, penological, reprieve, commute, commutation, nemesis, connivance

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

  1. List of paraphrases for «punishment»:

    penalty, chastisement, sentence, sanction, penalties, punish, sentences, suppression, retribution, punishing, assent, sanctions, worth, death, repression, penalization, corporal, punishments, tangible, pity, sentencing, pena, penalisation

How to pronounce punishment?

How to say punishment in sign language?

How to use punishment in a sentence?

  1. Menander:

    When you see a man elated with pride, glorying in his riches and high descent, rising even above fortune, look out for his speedy punishment; for he is only raised the higher that he may fall with a heavier crash.

  2. Claudia Cappa:

    Witnessing corporal punishment by teachers sends a message to children themselves that violence is acceptable in schools, which it is not.

  3. Asha Singh:

    He deserves the same punishment as the four who’ve been given the death penalty, it should set a historic example in society that if you treat women and girls this way, no one will be spared.

  4. Assistant Public Defender David Davis:

    There is no ambiguity, you can’t separate the punishment from the procedure … It’s like having a bullet without a gun.

  5. Victor Shih:

    The threat of harsh punishment works to enforce self-quarantine, but will lead to risk avoidance behavior in the aftermath.


Translations for punishment

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

  • عقاب, عقوبةArabic
  • puniment, càstig, punicióCatalan, Valencian
  • trestCzech
  • Strafe, BestrafungGerman
  • τιμωρία, ποινήGreek
  • punoEsperanto
  • penitencia, castigoSpanish
  • گوشمالی دادنPersian
  • rankaiseminen, rangaistusFinnish
  • punitionFrench
  • pionósIrish
  • peanas, peanasachadhScottish Gaelic
  • castigo, puniciónGalician
  • सज़ा, दण्डHindi
  • büntetésHungarian
  • պատիժArmenian
  • punizioneItalian
  • 罰, 懲罰, 処罰, 刑罰Japanese
  • poenaLatin
  • sodīšana, sodsLatvian
  • казнување, казнаMacedonian
  • boete, bestraffing, boetedoening, afstraffing, vergelding, straf, beproevingDutch
  • wycisk, karanie, karaPolish
  • castigo, puniçãoPortuguese
  • pedeapsă, pedepsire, pedeapsă punitivă, penalizareRomanian
  • кара, наказаниеRussian
  • ка̏зна, kȁznaSerbo-Croatian
  • kazenSlovene
  • straffSwedish
  • தண்டனைTamil

Get even more translations for punishment »

Translation

Find a translation for the punishment synonym in other languages:

Select another language:

  • — Select —
  • 简体中文 (Chinese — Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese — Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Citation

Use the citation below to add these synonyms to your bibliography:

Are we missing a good synonym for punishment?

наказание, кара, взыскание, суровое обращение, грубое обращение

существительное

- наказание; взыскание

capital punishment — смертная казнь, высшая мера наказания
corporal punishment — телесное наказание, порка
summary punishment — а) наказание, которому подвергают немедленно; б) воен. дисциплинарное взыскание; в) расправа на месте
men under punishment — лица, получившие взыскания
to inflict a punishment upon smb. — наложить взыскание на кого-л.
to be brought to punishment for one’s crimes — понести наказание за преступления

- разг. грубое, суровое обращение

to inflict severe punishment on a team — нанести сокрушительное поражение команде; ≅ разделать команду под орех
the engine can withstand a lot of punishment — это очень надёжный двигатель; этот двигатель выдерживает самое варварское обращение
man who can stand /take/ punishment — боксёр, хорошо держащий удар

- урон; повреждение

to receive punishment — получить повреждение

- воен. сильное воздействие, интенсивный огонь, обстрел

Мои примеры

Словосочетания

forms of punishment barred by the Constitution — виды наказаний, запрещённые Конституцией  
a persuasive argument against capital punishment — убедительный довод против смертной казни  
cruel punishment — суровое наказание  
to deal out punishment — наказывать  
abolition of capital punishment — отмена смертной казни  
to endure punishment — отбыть наказание  
to exact punishment — налагать наказание  
glutton for punishment — любитель наказаний  
the punishment which matches the gravity of the crime — наказание, соответствующее тяжести преступления  
harsh punishment — строгое, суровое наказание  
to mitigate punishment — смягчить наказание  
mitigation of punishment, mitigation of sentence — смягчение наказания  

Примеры с переводом

I was sent to bed as a punishment.

В качестве наказания, меня отправили спать.

Capital punishment has no place in a modern society.

Смертной казни не место в современном обществе.

The Court decides what punishment to impose.

Суд решает, какое наказание наложить.

Decency, not fear of punishment, caused them to do the right thing.

Порядочность, а не страх перед наказанием, заставила их делать правильные вещи.

What would be a just punishment for such a crime?

Что было бы справедливым наказанием за такое преступление?

Take care or you will be visited with punishment from heaven!

Берегись, или тебя постигнет кара небесная!

Why single him out for punishment?

Зачем делать из него козла отпущения?

ещё 23 примера свернуть

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

The gunmen will not escape punishment.

…an evenhanded meting out of punishment…

They got the punishment they so richly deserved.

Для того чтобы добавить вариант перевода, кликните по иконке , напротив примера.

Формы слова

noun
ед. ч.(singular): punishment
мн. ч.(plural): punishments

Meaning of PUNISHMENT in English

Punishment for people who break the law is decided in a court of law. In the US federal, state and local governments each have their own systems of law and of punishment. The Constitution forbids ‘cruel and unusual punishment’, but it is the responsibility of the Supreme Court to decide whether a punishment is ‘cruel and unusual’. In Britain, the Scottish legal system is different from that in England and Wales, but methods of punishment are similar throughout Britain.

When an accused person is found guilty of a crime the judge decides what punishment he or she should suffer. In both Britain and the US the least serious offences are punished by fines which must be paid to the court. Fines or fixed penalties (= fines at a level decided in advance) are often imposed for minor traffic offences such as parking illegally.

If a fine is not considered adequate, a person may be sentenced to do community service (= work without pay in hospitals, homes for old people, etc.) or be put on probation (= required to have regular meetings with a social worker over a set period). When the crime committed is more serious, the convicted person is likely to be given a prison sentence. If it is their first offence the sentence may be suspended (= only carried out if the person is found guilty of another crime) and the person is allowed to remain free on a conditional discharge .

If a person is given a prison sentence its length depends on how serious their crime is and on their past record . If a person thinks the sentence is too severe he or she has the right to appeal against it in a higher court, which has the power to reduce the sentence. As a reward for good behaviour prisoners are often given remission (= are released early). Others get parole , which means that they can go free as long as they do not commit any further crimes. In the US the number of people on probation has increased in recent years, as there is not always room in prisons for all those given a prison sentence. A variety of non-custodial punishments (= ones not requiring time in prison) have been tried in both Britain and the US, including electronic tagging . This punishment requires people to stay in their homes and wear a device that informs the police if they leave.

In Britain the maximum sentence that can be handed down by a judge is a life sentence , which in fact usually means spending about 20-25 years in prison. Convicted murderers are given life sentences. The most serious punishment in the US is the death penalty . Not all states allow capital punishment , and in those that do, before it can be carried out there may be many years of appeals.


Oxford guide to British and American culture English vocabulary.

     Руководство по британской и американской культуре, Оксфордский английский словарь.
2005

Like this post? Please share to your friends:
  • A word that means lovely
  • A word that means hidden meaning of
  • A word that means freedom
  • A word that means come together
  • A word that means clothes