disciplinary

adjective

dis·​ci·​plin·​ary ˈdi-sə-plə-ˌner-ē 

 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

ˌdi-sə-plə-ˈner-ə-lē 

adverb

disciplinarity

ˌdi-sə-plə-ˈner-ə-tē 

noun

Synonyms

• punitive
• correctional

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

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

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

Rhymes for disciplinary

• accretionary
• apothecary
• bicentenary
• certiorari
• concessionary
• concretionary
• confectionary
• confectionery
• constabulary
• contemporary
• deflationary
• depositary

Kids Definition

disciplinary

adjective

dis·​ci·​plin·​ary ˈdis-ə-plə-ˌner-ē 

: of or relating to discipline : corrective

take disciplinary action