penalty
Syllables: pen·al·ty/ˈpɛn.əl.ti/
penalty noun: a legal sentence.
Noun
penalty (plural penalties)
- A legal sentence.
- The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
- 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
- Synonyms:
- punishment, punition, sentence
- A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
- A direct free kick from the penalty spot, taken after a defensive foul in the penalty box; a penalty kick.
- 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.
- 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
penalty meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
penalty in Hindi
- punishment for violating rules of procedure
- दण्ड daṇḍ, सज़ा sazā
penalty in Tamil
- தண்டத்தொகை, தண்டனை, தண்டம், பணத்தண்டம், அபராதம்
penalty in Urdu
- penalty
- سزا sazā, دنڈ daṇḍ
More languagesFewer languages
- penalty in Bengali
- শাস্তি, জরিমানা, দণ্ড, সাজা
- penalty in Telugu
- ఒట్టు oṭṭu, జరిమానా jarimānā
- penalty in Malayalam
- ശിക്ഷ śikṣa, പിഴ piḻa
- penalty in Kannada
- ದಂಡನೆ, ಶಿಕ್ಷೆ, ಜುಲ್ಮಾನೆ, ಪ್ರತಿಬಂಧಕ
- penalty in Punjabi
- ਜ਼ੁਰਮਾਨਾ
- penalty in Gujarati
- દંડ, દંડની સજા
- penalty in Tagalog
- parusa, bayad-sala
- penalty in Arabic
- جَزَاء jazāʔ
- penalty in Malay
- hukuman
- penalty in Vietnamese
- trừng phạt
Examples of penalty in a sentence
- He's going to the penalty box after hacking the defender in front of the goal.
- Jensen gets a 5 minute major penalty for hacking Orsov in the back.
- If you are found to have lied in court, you could face a penalty.
Synonyms of penalty
Antonyms
Forms of penalty
| plural | penalties |
|---|---|
| alternative form (archaic) | pœnalty |
Origin of penalty
From Middle French pénalité, from pénal, from Latin poenālis, from poena, borrowing of Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂, comprising *kʷey- + *-néh₂.
Words formed from penalty
- counterpenalty
- death penalty
- drive-through penalty
- face mask penalty
- fixed penalty notice
- long lap penalty
- loyalty penalty
- marriage penalty
- match penalty
- minor penalty
- pay the penalty
- penalty arc
- penalty area
- penalty box
- penalty card
- penalty copy
- penalty corner
- penalty envelope
- penalty function
- penalty goal
- penalty kick
- penalty kill
- penalty loop
- penalty mark
- penalty phase
- penalty point
- penalty rate
- penalty shootout
- penalty shoot-out
- penalty shot
- penalty spot
- penalty throw
- penalty try
- penalty turn
- penalty unit
- Pessi
- point penalty
- prepayment penalty
- stop-and-go penalty
Phrases with penalty
- penalty arcs
- penalty areas
- penalty boxes
- penalty cards
- penalty goals
- penalty kicks
- penalty kills
- penalty marks
- penalty rates
- penalty shots
- penalty spots
- penalty tries
16 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about penalty
- What does penalty mean?
- Penalty means a legal sentence.
- What is penalty in Hindi?
- Penalty in Hindi is दण्ड (daṇḍ), सज़ा (sazā). See Penalty meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is penalty?
- Penalty is a noun.
- How do you pronounce penalty?
- Penalty is pronounced /ˈpɛn.əl.ti/.
- What is the plural of penalty?
- The plural of penalty is penalties.
Words near penalty in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: penalty (page history and authors); penalty (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penalty (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); دنڈ (Urdu) (page history and authors); penalty (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఒట్టు (Telugu) (page history and authors); penalty (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); penalty (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); penalty (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-penalty.wav.
Cite this entry: “penalty.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/penalty. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.