as in punished
to inflict a penalty on for a fault or crime
the player was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct
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Recent Examples of penalized
The rookie tackle let up a sack and was penalized for a false start.
—
Doug Kyed, Hartford Courant, 9 Feb. 2026
For every target missed during the competition, the athlete will be penalized.
—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 8 Feb. 2026
And athletes can get penalized—pretty heftily, actually—for breaking them.
—Jenny McCoy, SELF, 6 Feb. 2026
Some commenters on social media rose to Olive Oil Candidate’s defense, saying such an interest might be unconventional but a person shouldn’t be penalized for sharing it.
—Sarah Jackson, CNBC, 4 Feb. 2026
In a pair of lawsuits, Harvard said it’s being unfairly penalized for refusing to adopt the administration’s views.
—Collin Binkley, Chicago Tribune, 3 Feb. 2026
That includes the Patriots’ divisional-round win over the Houston Texans, in which New England was flagged three times for 48 yards and the Texans were penalized four times for 32 yards.
—Matt Barrows, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2026
Two digital asset exchanges linked to Zanjani that have processed large volumes of funds were also penalized.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 30 Jan. 2026
Before this season, drivers got penalized for leaving Attack Mode on the plate.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2026
Doug Kyed, Hartford Courant, 9 Feb. 2026
For every target missed during the competition, the athlete will be penalized.
—Janet Loehrke, USA Today, 8 Feb. 2026
And athletes can get penalized—pretty heftily, actually—for breaking them.
—Jenny McCoy, SELF, 6 Feb. 2026
Some commenters on social media rose to Olive Oil Candidate’s defense, saying such an interest might be unconventional but a person shouldn’t be penalized for sharing it.
—Sarah Jackson, CNBC, 4 Feb. 2026
In a pair of lawsuits, Harvard said it’s being unfairly penalized for refusing to adopt the administration’s views.
—Collin Binkley, Chicago Tribune, 3 Feb. 2026
That includes the Patriots’ divisional-round win over the Houston Texans, in which New England was flagged three times for 48 yards and the Texans were penalized four times for 32 yards.
—Matt Barrows, New York Times, 1 Feb. 2026
Two digital asset exchanges linked to Zanjani that have processed large volumes of funds were also penalized.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 30 Jan. 2026
Before this season, drivers got penalized for leaving Attack Mode on the plate.
—David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for penalized
punished
Verb
-
Universities are under threat of government interference, book banning has reached unprecedented levels, journalists and artists and media outlets and attorneys are being punished, silenced, and doxed, and dissent everywhere is being criminalized.—
Gioia Woods,
Literary Hub,
6 Feb. 2026
-
This is the guy, after all, who renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America with one of his first executive orders in his second term and has punished news agencies that refuse to comply.—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Penalized.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/penalized. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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