impunity

noun im·pu·ni·ty \ im-ˈpyü-nə-tē \

|Updated on: 29 Jul 2018

Examples: impunity in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of impunity

: exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss

laws were flouted with impunity

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Examples of impunity in a Sentence

she mistakenly believed that she could insult people with impunity

Recent Examples of impunity from the Web

Coburn and Monteagudo took control early, policing the net with impunity.

— cincinnati enquirer, Cincinnati.com, "Matrka, Zinn take women's doubles title at The Met," 13 July 2018
Critics say his loyalists operate with impunity, creating nothing more than a charade of a democracy.

— New York Times, "In Troubled Cameroon, U.S. Envoy Is Accused of Election Meddling," 12 July 2018
Hungary’s impunity reflects Fidesz’s membership in the European People’s Party (PPE), the largest party in the European Parliament.

— monika nalepa, Washington Post, "Poland may forcibly ‘retire’ dozens of Supreme Court justices," 10 July 2018
Even his location serves to underscore the disaster that someone with Lift’s power and priorities can sow, largely with impunity (and often with praise even as these violations are discovered).

— hannah giorgis, The Atlantic, "Sorry to Bother You Has an Eerily Familiar Villain," 10 July 2018
Human and drug traffickers operate with impunity, and gangs fight for territory.

— nomaan merchant, Cincinnati.com, "Hunger, fear, desperation: What came of an ordinary ICE raid in Covington," 9 July 2018
Though the civil war is over, Guatemala ranks among the 25 most dangerous countries in the world, fueled by a severe impunity problem and the easy availability of firearms, according to the U.S. State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council.

— daniel gonzález, azcentral, "The U.S. deported this mother to Guatemala. It kept her 6-year-old son.," 2 July 2018
Although your days of eating cupcakes for lunch with impunity may be behind you, your caloric needs haven’t decreased.

— carly graf, Outside Online, "The Foods You Should Be Eating at Every Age," 28 June 2018
Human rights groups are advocating for more sanctions coupled with action by the International Criminal Court to end long-running impunity for Myanmar’s military.

— timothy mclaughlin, Washington Post, "Myanmar fires general who led campaign against Rohingya," 25 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'impunity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Impunity (like the words pain, penal, and punish) traces to the Latin noun poena, meaning "punishment." The Latin word, in turn, came from Greek poinē, meaning "payment" or "penalty." People acting with impunity have prompted use of the word since the 1500s, as in this 1660 example by Englishman Roger Coke: "This unlimited power of doing anything with impunity, will only beget a confidence in kings of doing what they list [desire]." While royals may act with impunity more easily than others, the word impunity can be applied to the lowliest of beings as well as the loftiest: "Certain beetles have learned to detoxify [willow] leaves in their digestive tract so they can eat them with impunity" (Smithsonian, September 1986).

Origin and Etymology of impunity

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

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First Known Use: 1532

in the meaning defined above

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