impunity
noun
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Impunity, like the words pain, penal, and punish, traces to the Latin noun poena, meaning "punishment." Poena, in turn, came from the Greek poinē, meaning "payment" or "penalty." Impunity has been around since the 1500s; in 1660, Englishman Roger Coke wrote "This unlimited power of doing anything with impunity, will only beget a confidence in kings of doing what they [desire]." While royals may act with impunity more easily than others, the word impunity can be applied to beings great and small. Take, for example, this 2023 quote from the Sidmouth Herald in England: "The [yew tree] fruits are readily eaten by birds but they do not digest the seeds as they are poisonous. Only one bird, the rare and shy Hawfinch, is able to eat the seeds with impunity."
Examples of impunity in a Sentence
Michael Kleinman, Time, 22 Nov. 2025
Several thousand people took to the streets of Mexico City on Saturday to protest crime, corruption and impunity in a demonstration organized by members of Generation Z, but which ended with strong backing from older supporters of opposition parties.
—María Verza, Fortune, 17 Nov. 2025
Epstein had set up a rape island where rich and powerful men were abusing young girls with impunity.
—Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 17 Nov. 2025
Frölich recalled that Frick had pleaded in the Reichstag for amnesty to be given to Ernst Werner Techow, who had been involved in Rathenau’s murder, and had demanded impunity for the Erzberger assassins, Schulz and Tillessen.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impunity
Cite this Entry
“Impunity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impunity. Accessed 30 Nov. 2025.
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impunity
noun
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