Synonyms for punishment
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Penalty — A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime
penalty, chastisement, retribution, discipline, sanction, chastening, penance, correction, sentence, censure, rebuke, pain dated, punition dated
Other
retaliation, infliction, scourge, scourging, whipping, visitation, requital, penalization, penalisation UK, castigation dated
Definitions
- n. 1
A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.
Forms
- Plural
- punishments → penalties, chastisements, retributions, disciplines…
Example sentences
- penalty He lobbied for the abolition of the death penalty.
- discipline Discipline is the most important part of success.
- retribution You can make your choice freely without fear of retribution.
- retaliation Threats of retaliation are blocking negotiations.
- whipping Tom could feel the air whipping his face as he ran.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| punishment | steady | |
| penalty | steady | |
| discipline | steady | |
| retribution | rising | |
| chastisement | rising | |
| retaliation | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- pain1
- 6 letters
- rebuke2
- 7 letters
- penalty3, scourge1, penance2, censure2
- 8 letters
- sentence2, sanction2, whipping2, requital, punition
- 9 letters
- scourging2
- 10 letters
- discipline3, correction3, visitation4, infliction3, chastening
- 11 letters
- retaliation5, retribution4, castigation
- 12 letters
- chastisement, penalization, penalisation
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (rebuke2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- punition
- Italiano
- punizione
- Español
- castigo
- Deutsch
- Bestrafung
- Català
- càstig