Past tense of punish
regular verb
The past tense of punish is punished. The past participle is also punished.
Forms of punish
| Base form (V1) | punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | punished /ˈpʌnɪʃt/ |
| Past participle (V3) | punished /ˈpʌnɪʃt/ |
| Present participle | punishing /ˈpʌnɪʃɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | punishes |
Punished in a sentence
- If a prince violates the law, then he must be punished like an ordinary person.
- His mother had punished him when he'd deserved it.2017, Joyce Carol Oates, Double Delight, Open Road Media, →ISBN
- You committed terrible actions — to wit, murder and theft — and should be punished accordingly.From the entry wit
- Our teacher was always very strict. If we didn't behave, we would get punished.From the entry strict
- Good conduct will be rewarded and likewise poor conduct will be punished.From the entry conduct
Meaning of punish
- verb 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).
- verb To treat harshly and unfairly.
- verb To handle or beat severely; to maul.
Questions about the past tense of punish
- What is the past tense of punish?
- The past tense of punish is punished.
- What is the past participle of punish?
- The past participle of punish is punished.
- Is punish a regular or irregular verb?
- Punish is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: punish (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of punish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/punish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.