penalize

play

verb pe·nal·ize \ ˈpē-nə-ˌlīz , ˈpe- \

Definition of penalize

penalized; penalizing

transitive verb

1 :to inflict a penalty on

2 :to put at a serious disadvantage

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penalization

play \ˈpē-nə-lə-ˈzā-shən\ noun

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See penalize defined for kids

Examples of penalize in a Sentence

The company was penalized for not paying taxes.
The hockey player was penalized for holding.
This law would unfairly penalize immigrants.

Recent Examples of penalize from the Web

It’s unclear which Cincinnati Reds players have cleared waivers, as teams are penalized by Major League Baseball for leaking waiver information.

— zach buchanan, Cincinnati.com, "No waiver trade action yet for Reds," 17 Aug. 2017
The league's owners are set to approve a set of rule changes that will penalize teams for resting healthy players, according to a report from USA TODAY's Jeff Zillgitt.

— daniel rapaport, SI.com, "Report: NBA Set to Approve Rules Against Resting Healthy Players," 10 Aug. 2017
New sanctions against Iran also are part of legislation passed by Congress last week that penalizes Russia and North Korea, which Mr. Trump is expected to sign.

— rick gladstone, New York Times, "Iran Says New U.S. Sanctions Violate Nuclear Deal," 1 Aug. 2017
The principles of grid neutrality protect fair prices for all electric customers and prevent people with solar or wind from being penalized.

— wendy wilson, idahostatesman, "Next up: Grid neutrality for power users," 20 July 2017
These disparities in assessments — known as regressivity — led to inequities in property tax bills, giving the wealthy unsanctioned tax breaks while penalizing low-income residents.

— hal dardick, chicagotribune.com, "County officials quiz Berrios about fairness of his office," 18 July 2017
Why Big Powers Use Sanctions as War by Other Means: QuickTake On the same day that the sale was concluded, the U.S. extended its list of individuals and companies penalized for the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014.

— evgenia pismennaya, Bloomberg.com, "Geopolitics May Yet Ruin $4 Billion Bond Deal for Russia in 2017," 17 July 2017
The thrust of these counterarguments is that the main characters did nothing wrong because the law simply doesn’t penalize anything that happened at the meeting.

— cristian farias, Daily Intelligencer, "No, Donald Trump Jr. Doesn’t Have a First Amendment Right to Get Freebies From the Russians," 16 July 2017
This week's report ups the urgency by once again highlighting Oregon's limited appetite for penalizing day cares.

— brad schmidt, OregonLive.com, "Stronger sanctions needed against Oregon day cares, report finds," 15 July 2017

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