capital punishment

noun

: punishment by death : the practice of killing people as punishment for serious crimes

called also death penalty

Examples of capital punishment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Despite Newsom’s push to commute all death sentences, capital punishment remains legal in California and prosecutors can continue seeking that punishment. — Taryn Luna, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2026

While support for capital punishment in California and nationwide has declined since historical highs in the tough-on-crime eras of the mid-1980s and 1990s, the issue remains divisive. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 6 Nov. 2026

Newsom has opposed capital punishment since his days as San Francisco mayor, citing the death penalty’s burden on people of color and the possibility of executing innocent people. — Sacbee.com, 5 Nov. 2026

The move will impact the lives of 548 people in the state, which has the largest number of people under a death sentence in the United States, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that tracks capital punishment. — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 5 Nov. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1581, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

capital punishment

noun

: death penalty