as in correctional
inflicting, involving, or serving as punishment
any misbehavior was immediately met with a punitive response the company had to pay a million dollars in punitive damages
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Examples of punitive in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The package received bipartisan support from the Legislature, though some progressive Democrats did not vote for it, citing concerns that some of the measures are too punitive.
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Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2024
Organizations can learn from this theory that RTO communications perceived as expressing a lack of trust or accompanied by punitive actions for non-compliance will likely encounter and even foster resistance from employees.
—Ryan Anderson, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2024
This is where Daughters forgoes the easy route and gets more big-picture philosophical about how incarceration affects more than the person behind bars, and who tends to be on the receiving end of severe, punitive sentencing.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 15 Aug. 2024
In June, the governor and Legislature introduced a more liberal, less punitive ballot measure that was meant to compete with the prosecutors’ measure.
—Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for punitive 
Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2024
Organizations can learn from this theory that RTO communications perceived as expressing a lack of trust or accompanied by punitive actions for non-compliance will likely encounter and even foster resistance from employees.
—Ryan Anderson, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2024
This is where Daughters forgoes the easy route and gets more big-picture philosophical about how incarceration affects more than the person behind bars, and who tends to be on the receiving end of severe, punitive sentencing.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 15 Aug. 2024
In June, the governor and Legislature introduced a more liberal, less punitive ballot measure that was meant to compete with the prosecutors’ measure.
—Anabel Sosa, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for punitive
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'punitive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Punitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punitive. Accessed 20 Sep. 2024.
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