Punishment

Pronunciation

Origin

From the Anglo-Norman punisceement, punisement, punishement, punissement, punisshement and the Middle French punissement, from the Old French pugnissement, from puniss- (the long stem (see the French -iss-) of punir ("to punish")) + -ment (see the English -ment). Compare the English nouns punishing and punition.

Full definition of punishment

Noun

1. The act or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction.
2. A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.
3. A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution
4. (figuratively) Any treatment or experience so harsh it feels like being punished; rough handlinga vehicle that can take a lot of punishment

Synonyms

• castigation
• punition
• beating

Antonyms

• reward

Hyponyms

• retribution

Derived terms

• corporal punishment
• mirror punishment
• telishment

Related terms

• punishable
• punisher
• punishing
• punitive
• impunity