punishment

noun

Simple meaning

A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

puhnihshmuhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpʌnɪʃmənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

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.
A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.
A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution.
figuratively
Any harsh treatment or experience; rough handling.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: 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.

Used this way, punishment is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in education or classroom and family or home contexts.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: Matter-of-fact
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

Education/classroom
Family/home

Nearby words

penalization , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use punishment

“A vehicle that can take a lot of punishment.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

capital punishmentcorporal punishmentphysical punishment

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

corporal punishmentnounCompound term
The infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime.
cruel and unusual punishmentnounCompound term
Punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
capital punishmentnounCompound term
Putting a condemned person to death.
instrument of punishmentnounCompound term
An instrument designed and used to punish a condemned person.
self-punishmentnounCompound term
Punishment inflicted on yourself.
freedom from cruel and unusual punishmentnounCompound term
A right guaranteed by the 8th amendment to the US Constitution.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

punishverbRelated term
Impose a penalty on.
punishingadjectiveRelated term
Resulting in punishment.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

penaltynoun
penaladjective
imprisonmentnoun
confinementnoun

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: act (action) or process of punishing

penalizationRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.