Word.ws English Dictionary

punitory

US/ˈpju.nɪ.tɔɹ.i/

punitory adjective: punitive; serving to punish.

Adjective

punitory (comparative more punitory, superlative most punitory)

  1. (archaic) punitive; serving to punish
    • God […] may make moral evil, as well as natural, at the same time both prudential and punitory.1768-1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued
    • the former, a simply imperative law; the other a punitory: but the punitory, if it commands the punishment to be inflicted, and does not merely permit it, is as truly imperative as the other1780, Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

Synonyms of punitory

All synonyms of punitory

Forms of punitory

comparativemore punitory
superlativemost punitory

Questions about punitory

What does punitory mean?
Punitory means punitive; serving to punish.
What part of speech is punitory?
Punitory is an adjective.
How do you pronounce punitory?
Punitory is pronounced /ˈpju.nɪ.tɔɹ.i/ (US).

Words near punitory in the dictionary

  1. punitive tariff
  2. punitively
  3. punitiveness
  4. punitivism
  5. punitivity
  6. punitory
  7. Punitovci
  8. punity
  9. punja
  10. Punjab
  11. Punjabee

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: punitory (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:

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