Synonyms for punish
ˈpʌn ɪʃpun·ish

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:4.0 / 2 votes

1. punishverb

   Synonyms:
   castigate

2. punishverb

   To cause to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action.

   Synonyms:
   castigate

3. punishverb

   To cause great harm to. (a punishing blow)

   Synonyms:
   castigate

4. punishverb

   To dumb down severely or to the point of uselessness or near-uselessness.

   Synonyms:
   castigate

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 2 votes

1. punish

   Avenge and revenge, once close synonyms, are now far apart in meaning. To avenge is to visit some offense with punishment, in order to vindicate the righteous, or to uphold and illustrate the right by the suffering or destruction of the wicked. "And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian," Acts vii, 24. To revenge is to inflict harm or suffering upon another through personal anger and resentment at something done to ourselves. Avenge is unselfish; revenge is selfish. Revenge, according to present usage, could not be said of God. To retaliate may be necessary for self-defense, without the idea of revenge. Compare REVENGE.

   Synonyms:
   avenge, retaliate, revenge, vindicate, visit

   Preposition:
   Avenge on or upon (rarely, avenge oneself of) a wrong-doer.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. punish

   Synonyms:
   chastise, castigate, chasten, correct, whip, scourge

   Antonyms:
   reward, recompense, remunerate, indemnify

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:3.2 / 5 votes

1. punish, penalize, penaliseverb

   impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on

   "The students were penalized for showing up late for class"; "we had to punish the dog for soiling the floor again"

   Synonyms:
   penalize, penalise

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. punishverb

   Synonyms:
   chastise, castigate, lash, chasten, discipline, correct, scourge, whip

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. punishverb

   Synonyms:
   chastise, castigate, chasten, discipline

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "punish":

   punishing, penalise, penalize, sanction, punishment, suppress, chastise, flog, smite, criminalize, suppression, repress, penalties

Suggested Resources

1. punish

   Song lyrics by punish -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by punish on the Lyrics.com website.

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How to use punish in a sentence?

1. Albert Camus:

   What then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared For there to be an equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal, who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him, and who from that moment onward had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life.

2. Steve Prefontaine:

   A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself.

3. Katey Alatalo:

   Our job is to make astronomy feel safe for victims of harassment, of course, we need to punish the harassers, but we're junior scientists -- we cannot punish them; we're not in a position of power to do that.

4. Al Green:

   I should not hold off, we should go forward as expeditiously as possible and we should do so because on yesterday we convicted the President... The condemnation was a conviction. Today we have the opportunity to punish, as a result of what we did yesterday, the President suffers no harm, he doesn't have to pay any fine, he's not going to lose his job. But today we have the opportunity to punish.

5. Oscar Wilde:

   When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.