impunity

noun

im·​pu·​ni·​ty im-ˈpyü-nə-tē 

: exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss

laws were flouted with impunity

Did you know?

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."

Synonyms of impunity

• immunity
• protection
• exemption

Examples of impunity in a Sentence

she mistakenly believed that she could insult people with impunity

Recent Examples on the Web

For the first time, after decades of brutal Assad rule – by both Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad before him - the model of impunity in Syria has been broken, even if the penalty is unlikely to ever be carried out. — Paula Hancocks, CNN Money, 16 Aug. 2026

Each of these men is willing and able to save Palestinian lives with their bare hands, even if that means traveling to a place where children are murdered at 600 times the rate in Ukraine, and doctors are targeted with similar impunity. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2026

The massacre devastated Wilmington’s flourishing Black middle class and sent a message of impunity to white vigilantes nationwide. — Namara Smith, New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2026

And the Iranian regime could strike with impunity at its neighbors, including Israel. — Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic, 28 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle French or Latin; Middle French impunité, from Latin impunitat-, impunitas, from impune without punishment, from in- + poena punishment — more at pain entry 1

First Known Use

1532, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for impunity

• community
• disunity
• immunity
• autoimmunity
• importunity
• opportunity
• munity
• unity

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Kids Definition

impunity

noun

im·​pu·​ni·​ty im-ˈpyü-nət-ē 

: freedom from punishment, harm, or loss