Synonym Chooser

How is the word punish distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of punish are castigate, chasten, chastise, correct, and discipline. While all these words mean "to inflict a penalty on in requital for wrongdoing," punish implies subjecting to a penalty for wrongdoing.

punished for stealing

When is castigate a more appropriate choice than punish?

Although the words castigate and punish have much in common, castigate usually implies a severe, typically public censure.

an editorial castigating the entire city council

When might chasten be a better fit than punish?

The meanings of chasten and punish largely overlap; however, chasten suggests any affliction or trial that leaves one humbled or subdued.

chastened by a landslide election defeat

In what contexts can chastise take the place of punish?

In some situations, the words chastise and punish are roughly equivalent. However, chastise may apply to either the infliction of corporal punishment or to verbal censure or denunciation.

chastised his son for neglecting his studies

When can correct be used instead of punish?

The words correct and punish are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, correct implies punishing aimed at reforming an offender.

the function of prison is to correct the wrongdoer

When would discipline be a good substitute for punish?

The words discipline and punish can be used in similar contexts, but discipline implies a punishing or chastening in order to bring under control.

parents must discipline their children

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 punish Most recently in Venezuela and Turkey, where presidents punished officials and economists who do not tow the party line. ABC News, 3 Aug. 2025 For example, on the first day of the Lunar New Year neither dogs nor children are supposed to be punished. Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 2 Aug. 2025 Is the only way to influence the programming on PBS to punish Big Bird, emergency broadcasting, and small local stations? Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 2 Aug. 2025 But when Trump signed the order last night imposing new tariffs on 66 countries, the European Union, Taiwan and the Falkland Islands, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so that the tariff schedule could be updated. Chicago Tribune, 1 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for punish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punish
Verb
  • Their argument, essentially, was that Democrats should govern where common ground with Republicans was possible to avoid penalizing their constituents for Trump’s sins.
    David M. Drucker, Twin Cities, 10 Aug. 2025
  • Incumbents grow unassailable, accountable only to low-turnout partisan primaries, which reward extremism and penalize compromise.
    Dan Perry, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • He was fined by Wayne County for filing his report past the July 25th deadline.
    Niraj Warikoo, Freep.com, 7 Aug. 2025
  • Of that group, 10 were fined a total of $841,500, an amount that was later lowered to $482,450 after settlements and waivers.
    Aldo Svaldi, Denver Post, 7 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Trump amps up his attacks on CEOs and other executives Trump has long used social media and his other public statements to cajole, criticize and praise companies and individual CEOs.
    Maria Aspan, NPR, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Some social media users have criticized the department’s reverence for the 1940s, noting the period predated the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlawed segregation, as well as other landmark legislation and Supreme Court decisions that were key to the civil rights era.
    Conor Murray, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Still, some candidates and critics chastised Mamdani for his overseas absence after New York City’s deadliest shooting in decades.
    Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 3 Aug. 2025
  • And in the same hearing, several senators chastised lottery Executive Director Ryan Mindell for earlier telling lawmakers that his agency was powerless under current state law to regulate, much less prohibit, the couriers that are presently active in 18 other states from doing business in Texas.
    John C. Moritz, Austin American Statesman, 30 July 2025
Verb
  • In November, Nazir was sentenced to 32 years for various offenses, including conspiracy to murder.
    Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 12 Aug. 2025
  • Motley pleaded no contest in June, and he was sentenced Monday, Aug. 11, to 40 days in jail, WDIV reported.
    Mitchell Willetts, Kansas City Star, 12 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • William Archie Fain, convicted of the 1967 killing of a teenage boy and rape of two teenage girls, was released on parole in 1983 to much outrage from the public, according to the Los Angeles Times.
    Taylor Romine, CNN Money, 16 Aug. 2025
  • Man convicted in Planet Fitness killing no longer has to pay $5K The Indiana Appeals Court said Thursday that a man convicted in a brutal killing at a Planet Fitness in Valparaiso no longer has to repay $5,000 to a Victim’s Assistance Unit fund.
    Meredith Colias-Pete, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Those concerns center on Casey’s connection to a program that would, years after his time as director, make headlines for producing three priests disciplined for inappropriate relationships with men and another arrested on child pornography charges.
    Dan Horn, The Enquirer, 10 Aug. 2025
  • Correction: An earlier version of this post stated Tim Doyle was disciplined for violating strike rules.
    Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 9 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Correction: This story has been updated to correct the total death toll.
    Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2025
  • This leaves taxpayers vulnerable to IRS assessments indefinitely, even after attempting to correct the fraudulent filing.
    Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Punish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punish. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on punish

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