punitive
/ˈpju.nɪ.tɪv/
punitive adjective: inflicting punishment; punishing.
Adjective
punitive (comparative more punitive, superlative most punitive)
- Inflicting punishment; punishing.
- Beijing imposed punitive sanctions on Canada.
- The jury awarded $10,000 in punitive damages.
- Synonyms:
- castigatory, punitory, punishmental, vindicatory, vindictive
punitive meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Telugu
punitive in Hindi
- दंडात्मक, दण्डात्मक
punitive in Marathi
- दंडात्मक
punitive in Bengali
- শাস্তিমূলক
punitive in Telugu
- శిక్షార్హమైనది
More languagesFewer languages
- punitive in Malayalam
- ശിക്ഷിക്കുന്ന, ദണ്ഡിക്കുന്ന
- punitive in Kannada
- ಮುಯ್ಪಿನ, ಶಿಕ್ಷಾತ್ಮಕ, ದಂಡಿಸುವ, ದಂಡರೂಪವಾದ
- punitive in Gujarati
- દંડાત્મક, શિક્ષાત્મક
- punitive in Odia
- ଦଣ୍ଡାତ୍ମକ
- punitive in Nepali
- दण्डात्मक, दंडात्मक, दण्डनीय
Examples of punitive in a sentence
- The administration threatened to impose punitive tariffs of 25% on all steel imports in response to the trade dispute.
- Black Pete and Sinterklaas also conspire to form a punitive team.
- Consequently, the eventual decision is not likely to affect punitive damages in nonmaritime cases.
Synonyms of punitive
Antonyms
Forms of punitive
| comparative | more punitive |
|---|---|
| superlative | most punitive |
Origin of punitive
From Middle French punitif, from Medieval Latin pūnitīvus, from pūniō (“to punish”).
Words formed from punitive
Questions about punitive
- What does punitive mean?
- Punitive means inflicting punishment; punishing.
- What is punitive in Hindi?
- Punitive in Hindi is दंडात्मक, दण्डात्मक. See Punitive meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is punitive?
- Punitive is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce punitive?
- Punitive is pronounced /ˈpju.nɪ.tɪv/.
Words near punitive in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: punitive (page history and authors); punitive (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); punitive (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); punitive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); punitive (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); punitive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); punitive (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); punitive (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); punitive (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); punitive (Nepali, 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-punitive.ogg.
Cite this entry: “punitive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/punitive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.