correctional

adjective

Definition of correctionalnext
as in punitive
inflicting, involving, or serving as punishment threatened to take correctional measures if the household chores were not done the state's largest correctional institution

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of correctional At noon that same day, her cellmates notified the correctional officer who failed to review Babb’s documents a few hours earlier. — Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 3 Sep. 2026 Speaking of Prison Break characters that fans love to hate, Wade Williams was Brad Bellick, a corrupt captain of the correctional officers at Fox River Penitentiary. — Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Aug. 2026 Two additional correctional officers also sustained injuries during the incident and were taken to an area health clinic for treatment, according to Banevicius. — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 24 Aug. 2026 By Bay City News An inmate serving a life sentence was convicted of assaulting a correctional officer in 2023 with a homemade dagger at Salinas Valley State Prison, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said. — Bay City News, Mercury News, 15 Aug. 2026 The lawsuit against the EEOC was filed by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, and two women who are correctional officers at Louisiana’s Federal Correctional Complex at Pollock. — ABC News, 14 Aug. 2026 Two experts on correctional medical care said not every emergency at a facility like Mountain View requires a 911 call. — Paige Pfleger, ProPublica, 12 Aug. 2026 As researchers who study visitation in correctional settings, our role is not to say how the courts should rule. — Jillian Turanovic, The Conversation, 10 Aug. 2026 Florida hasn’t executed more than one person in a single day since 1964, according to the state’s correctional records. — Nicki Brown, CNN Money, 26 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for correctional
  1. punitive
  2. penal
  3. corrective
Adjective
  • However, recent scholarship posits that the structure was used as ordinary (rather than punitive) housing, and that the vulgar decor was in fact a distinguishing characteristic of the epoch.
    — Jim Greer, SPIN, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The Department of Defense attempted to blacklist Anthropic in February after the company refused to remove restrictions on its AI models being used for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance, a move widely seen as punitive.
    — Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of punitive
Adjective
  • The museum, spanning a former cell block wing, is a deeply informative and well curated journey through the evolution of the nation’s penal system.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Sep. 2026
  • While the two men entered the Russian penal system around the same time, their cases differ significantly.
    — Jared Kofsky, ABC News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of penal
Adjective
  • The 29-year-old was substituted in the second half of last Sunday’s 2-1 home defeat against Como and requires corrective surgery for a medical condition that Napoli have confirmed is a mild, benign arrhythmia.
    — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 6 Sep. 2026
  • These trajectories document a robot’s behavior before an intervention, the moment a human operator takes control, and the corrective actions used to recover or complete the task.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of corrective

Browse Nearby Words

correction
correctional
corrections
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Cite this Entry

“Correctional.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/correctional. Accessed 11 Sep. 2026.

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