as in penalties
suffering, loss, or hardship imposed in response to a crime or offense
he is serving five years in prison as punishment for aggravated assault
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Recent Examples of punishments
Players hold the right to appeal their punishments.
—
Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Kentucky is not the only state with a law allowing for harsher punishments for offenders with felony histories.
—Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 3 Sep. 2025
Harsh punishments like yelling or spraying can make cats wary, damaging trust.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Start with conversations, not punishments.
—Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
The four men who confessed to playing roles in the 2024 death of D'Vontaye Mitchell outside Milwaukee's Hyatt Regency hotel will learn their punishments Sept 3.
—Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 3 Sep. 2025
The real-life punishments should provide a reminder of the effects of his past actions.
—Kansas City Star, 28 Aug. 2025
The court isn’t there to hand out punishments or moral victories.
—Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 23 Aug. 2025
Few punishments were meted out in the first example.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 21 Aug. 2025
Dan Bernstein, Sportico.com, 4 Sep. 2025
Kentucky is not the only state with a law allowing for harsher punishments for offenders with felony histories.
—Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 3 Sep. 2025
Harsh punishments like yelling or spraying can make cats wary, damaging trust.
—Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025
Start with conversations, not punishments.
—Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
The four men who confessed to playing roles in the 2024 death of D'Vontaye Mitchell outside Milwaukee's Hyatt Regency hotel will learn their punishments Sept 3.
—Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 3 Sep. 2025
The real-life punishments should provide a reminder of the effects of his past actions.
—Kansas City Star, 28 Aug. 2025
The court isn’t there to hand out punishments or moral victories.
—Lyssanoel Frater, USA Today, 23 Aug. 2025
Few punishments were meted out in the first example.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punishments
penalties
Noun
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Three of the last four meetings ended 1-1 after regulation time, including the AFCON semi-final in January 2024, where Nigeria prevailed on penalties.—
Sindiswa Mabunda,
Forbes.com,
9 Sep. 2025
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Two pass interference flags skewed those numbers — their nine penalties were not a record under Sirianni, although their six defensive penalties tied for the most — but it was not lost on Sirianni that all Cowboys scoring drives included an Eagles penalty.—
Zach Berman,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Punishments.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/punishments. Accessed 13 Sep. 2025.
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