punishment
Syllables: pun·ish·ment/ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/
punishment noun: the act (action) or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent or teacher), especially when disappointed or dissatisfied with the behavior or actions of a child, student, or someone else being looked after.
Noun
punishment (countable and uncountable, plural punishments)
- The act (action) or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent or teacher), especially when disappointed or dissatisfied with the behavior or actions of a child, student, or someone else being looked after.
- The naughty children were given a punishment by their teachers.
- Synonyms:
- castigation, discipline, punition
- A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.
- a light punishment
- a harsh punishment
- Synonyms:
- sanction, censure, correction, discipline, penalty, punition, sentence
- Antonyms:
- reward, acknowledgment, guerdon, meed, payback, recompense, reguerdon, remuneration
- A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution.
- Any harsh treatment or experience; rough handling.
- a vehicle that can take a lot of punishment
punishment meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
punishment in Hindi
- act of punishing
- सज़ा sazā, दण्ड daṇḍ
- penalty for wrongdoing
- दण्ड daṇḍ, सज़ा sazā
punishment in Tamil
- act of punishing
- தண்டம் taṇṭam, தண்டனம் taṇṭaṉam
punishment in Marathi
- act of punishing
- शिक्षा śikṣā
punishment in Urdu
- act of punishing
- سَزا sazā, دَنْڈ danḍ, عِقاب 'iqāb, مُجازات mujāzāt
More languagesFewer languages
- punishment in Bengali
- সাজা śaja, দণ্ড donḍo, শাস্তি śasti
- punishment in Telugu
- శిక్ష śikṣa
- punishment in Malayalam
- ശിക്ഷ śikṣa
- punishment in Kannada
- ಶಿಕ್ಷೆ śikṣe
- punishment in Punjabi
- ਸਜ਼ਾ sazā, سَزا sazā, ਡੰਡ ḍaṇḍ
- punishment in Gujarati
- સજા sajā
- punishment in Odia
- ଦଣ୍ଡ daṇḍa, ଶାସ୍ତି śāsti
- punishment in Sanskrit
- दण्ड daṇḍa, दम dama, निग्रह nigraha, शिक्षा śikṣā
- punishment in Sinhala
- දඬුවම daⁿḍuwama
- punishment in Assamese
- শাস্তি xasti
- punishment in Nepali
- सजाय sajāya, दण्ड daṇḍa
- punishment in Pashto
- جزا jazā, ايداد idad, مجازات mujāzāt
- punishment in Tagalog
- kastigo
- punishment in Arabic
- عِقَاب ʕiqāb, جَزَاء jazāʔ, مُجَازَاة mujāzāh, عُقُوبَة ʕuqūba
- punishment in Malay
- hukuman, seksa, dera, azab
- punishment in Indonesian
- hukuman
- punishment in Persian
- مجازات mojâzât, کیفر keyfar, تنبیه tanbih, بلا balâ
- punishment in Thai
- โทษ tôot, ทัณฑ์ tan
- punishment in Vietnamese
- hình phạt, trừng trị, sự phạt
- punishment in Myanmar
- ဒဏ် dan, အပြစ် a.prac
- Sindhi
- سَزا sazā
- Kashmiri
- سَزا sazā
Examples of punishment in a sentence
- Hanging is the punishment for one convicted of war crimes, there.
- He faced punishment for creating the fenced enclosure in a public park.
- He must be a sucker for punishment to try to climb that mountain barefoot.
Synonyms of punishment
- castigation
- discipline
- punition
- sanction
- censure
- correction
- penalty
- sentence
- chastening
- chastisement
1 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of punishment
| plural | punishments |
|---|
Origin of punishment
From Middle English punishement, from Old French punissement, from punir (“to punish”). Equivalent to punish + -ment. Displaced native Old English wīte.
Words formed from punishment
Phrases with punishment
Questions about punishment
- What does punishment mean?
- Punishment means the act (action) or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent or teacher), especially when disappointed or dissatisfied with the behavior or actions of a child, student, or someone else being looked after.
- What is punishment in Hindi?
- Punishment in Hindi is सज़ा (sazā), दण्ड (daṇḍ). See Punishment meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is punishment?
- Punishment is a noun.
- How do you pronounce punishment?
- Punishment is pronounced /ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/.
- What is the plural of punishment?
- The plural of punishment is punishments.
Words near punishment in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: punishment (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-punishment.ogg.
Cite this entry: “punishment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/punishment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.