PUNISHMENT

Pronunciation (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does punishment mean? 

• PUNISHMENT (noun)
  The noun PUNISHMENT has 1 sense:

1. the act of punishing

  Familiarity information: PUNISHMENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUNISHMENT (noun)

Meaning:

The act of punishing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

penalisation; penalization; penalty; punishment

Hypernyms ("punishment" is a kind of...):

social control (control exerted (actively or passively) by group action)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "punishment"):

castigation; chastisement (verbal punishment)

stick (threat of a penalty)

self-punishment (punishment inflicted on yourself)

medicine; music (punishment for one's actions)

imprisonment (putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment)

economic strangulation (punishment of a group by cutting off commercial dealings with them)

correction; discipline (the act of punishing)

detention (a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home)

cruel and unusual punishment (punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed)

corporal punishment (the infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime)

penance; self-abasement; self-mortification (voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing)