disciplinary

adjective

dis·​ci·​plin·​ary ˈdi-sə-plə-ˌner-ē How to pronounce disciplinary (audio)
 especially British  ˌdi-sə-ˈpli-nə-rē
1
a
: of or relating to discipline
disciplinary problems
b
: designed to correct or punish breaches of discipline
took disciplinary action
2
: of or relating to a particular field of study
disciplinary specialization
disciplinarily adverb
disciplinarity noun

Examples of disciplinary in a Sentence

The committee is considering disciplinary measures against him. called for disciplinary actions in response to the outrageous behavior
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Police said the case is pending and may be grounds for additional charges and university disciplinary action. Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2025 Doing multi-disciplinary work, getting biology to work well with software, and hardware to work with software. Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2025 Li Guohua, formerly general manager of China Unicom, was sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern city of Qingdao, almost 15 months after the ruling Communist Party’s disciplinary body placed him under investigation. Barney Henderson, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025 Bissouma was left out of the Tottenham squad for the UEFA Super Cup due to disciplinary reasons and was also omitted from their roster for the Champions League initial phase. Elias Burke, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for disciplinary

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Medieval Latin disciplīnārius, from Latin disciplīna "teaching, discipline entry 1" + -ārius -ary entry 2

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of disciplinary was in the 15th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Disciplinary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciplinary. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

disciplinary

adjective
dis·​ci·​plin·​ary ˈdis-ə-plə-ˌner-ē How to pronounce disciplinary (audio)
: of or relating to discipline : corrective
take disciplinary action

More from Merriam-Webster on disciplinary

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!