punishment.
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.
Meaning & usage
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.
A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.
a light punishment
a harsh punishment
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
Where this word comes from
From Middle English punishement, from Old French punissement, from punir (“to punish”). Equivalent to punish + -ment. Displaced native Old English wīte.
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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.