overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

punish.

To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈpʌnɪʃ/
  1. To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).

    transitive
    If a prince violates the law, then he must be punished like an ordinary person.
  2. To treat harshly and unfairly.

    figuratively · transitive
  3. To handle or beat severely; to maul.

    colloquial · transitive
  4. To consume a large quantity of.

    colloquial · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English punischen, from Anglo-Norman, Old French puniss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of punir, from Latin puniō (“to inflict punishment upon”), from poena (“punishment, penalty”); see pain. Displaced Old English wītnian and (mostly, in this sense) wrecan.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

punish has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

punish studiopunish workshello, punish

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.