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
Charlie Campbell, Time, 6 Mar. 2026
Separateness was scrupulously honored and enforced, but equality was shortchanged with impunity.
—Bruce Fein, Baltimore Sun, 5 Mar. 2026
In gangland circles, women are casually murdered and mutilated, their killers operating with utter impunity.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2026
China holds Tibet without noticeable bother, commits crimes against its Uyghur Muslim minority with impunity, launches acts of aggression against its neighbors in the South China Sea, and growls off any court or tribunal that looks askance—which few do.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for impunity
Cite this Entry
“Impunity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impunity. Accessed 11 Mar. 2026.
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impunity
noun
