mete out

phrasal verb

meted out; meting out; metes out

: to give (something) to the people who one decides should get it : to give out or distribute (something)

We're trying to be fair in meting out rewards and punishments.

—usually used to refer to something unpleasant (such as punishment)

Huge fines were meted out as punishment.

The king meted out justice as he saw fit.

Examples of mete out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Disney network did not mete out any sort of punishment. —Brian Steinberg, Variety, 30 Apr. 2025

The settlement, which includes an apology from the county and recognition of harm, does more than mete out punishment. —Ali Martin, Christian Science Monitor, 29 Apr. 2025

And also as a country, there’s just a lot of aggression and anger and stress, and it’s been meted out to the medical professionals. —Lynette Rice, Deadline, 10 Apr. 2025

Players choose from several idiosyncratic character classes such as vigilantes who mete out justice with magic weapons or wizards that have access to a strange maze of interdimensional subway tunnels. —Rob Wieland, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024

Rhymes for mete out

• roundabout
• runabout
• sauerkraut
• thereabout
• turnabout
• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout