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.
On the other hand, for Branch, there may very well be some kind of disciplinary action from the league coming his way. Reice Shipley, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025 Kirkpatrick’s successor, LeRonne Armstrong, served until 2023, when then-Mayor Sheng Thao fired him over a misconduct scandal involving the Oakland Police Department’s internal disciplinary process. Shomik Mukherjee, Mercury News, 13 Oct. 2025 But both men asked me about the recent disciplinary writeup. Joe Garcia, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2025 Poor discipline in other areas, such as misplaced passes and heavy touches, is impacting their disciplinary record. Simon Johnson, New York Times, 10 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 16 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

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