as in correctional
inflicting, involving, or serving as punishment any misbehavior was immediately met with a punitive response the company had to pay a million dollars in punitive damages
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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 punitive Many of those conditions have persisted — and, according to recent accounts, worsened — with new allegations now extending beyond neglect to include physical abuse and punitive measures by guards. —
Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 18 Apr. 2026 According to Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, the union is asking state lawmakers to pass a law that would require companies to allow employees to have reasonable bathroom breaks without fear of punitive measures. —Dillon Thomas, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026 The United States last year also blocked imports from a major South Korean salt farm accused of using slave labor, becoming the first trade partner to take punitive action against a decadeslong problem on salt farms in islands off the country’s southwest coast. —ABC News, 10 Apr. 2026 Over the past year, according to earlier Post reporting, an unprecedented number of Aurora detainees have been granted voluntary departures — essentially deportations without a more punitive court order. —Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 6 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for punitive
Garrett Shanley, Miami Herald, 18 Apr. 2026 According to Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7, the union is asking state lawmakers to pass a law that would require companies to allow employees to have reasonable bathroom breaks without fear of punitive measures. —Dillon Thomas, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026 The United States last year also blocked imports from a major South Korean salt farm accused of using slave labor, becoming the first trade partner to take punitive action against a decadeslong problem on salt farms in islands off the country’s southwest coast. —ABC News, 10 Apr. 2026 Over the past year, according to earlier Post reporting, an unprecedented number of Aurora detainees have been granted voluntary departures — essentially deportations without a more punitive court order. —Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 6 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for punitive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for punitive
Adjective
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Jackson — still handcuffed to Martin — walked toward the correctional officers by the door.— Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 22 Apr. 2026
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The correctional officer, Jesus Reyes, was charged with conspiring to sell drugs, possessing drugs for sale and transporting drugs across county lines.— Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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In the new South, one scrabbling to industrialize, business owners could now hire unpaid labor through the penal system.— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 26 Apr. 2026
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The Mexican Mafia was started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that controls smuggling, drug sales and extortion from inside California’s penal system.— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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In 2020 Matthew Craske published Painter of Darkness, an explicitly corrective successor study.— Julian Bell, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026
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Since then, all deputized staff have been taught to administer the nasal spray and received two doses to carry on their person, according to the summary of the county’s corrective action plan.— Jason Henry, Daily News, 24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Punitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/thesaurus/punitive. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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