Word.ws English Dictionary

penalties

US/ˈpɛnəltiz/

penalties is the plural of penalty.

Meaning of penalty

Noun

penalty (plural penalties)

  1. A legal sentence.
    • The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
  2. A punishment for violating rules of procedure.
    • Was it so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as still to peal out the curfew bell, which at nine o'clock at night had clamorously warned all negroes, slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be abroad after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment or whipping?1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC
  3. A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
  4. A direct free kick from the penalty spot, taken after a defensive foul in the penalty box; a penalty kick.
  5. A punishment for an infraction of the rules, often in the form of being removed from play for a specified amount of time.
    • A penalty was called when he tripped up his opponent.
  6. A disadvantageous consequence of a previous event.
    • "But you, my noble, my generous girl!" exclaimed Lord Avonleigh, "I dare not let you pay the penalty of my former folly."1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 126

Noun

penalties pl (plural only)

  1. (informal, plural, plural-only) A penalty shootout.

Forms of penalties

alternative formpœnalties

Phrases with penalties

Questions about penalties

What does penalties mean?
Penalties means a penalty shootout.
What is penalties the plural of?
Penalties is the plural of penalty.
What part of speech is penalties?
Penalties is a noun.
How do you pronounce penalties?
Penalties is pronounced /ˈpɛnəltiz/ (US).

Words near penalties in the dictionary

  1. penally
  2. Penalosa
  3. Penalosas
  4. Penaloza
  5. Penalozas
  6. penalties
  7. penalty
  8. penalty arc
  9. penalty arcs
  10. penalty area
  11. penalty areas

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: penalties (page history and authors); penalty (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “penalties.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penalties. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.