What does "punishment" mean?
Punishment: Any pain, suffering, or loss inflicted on a person because of a crime or offense. I never gave them condign punishment. Shak. The rewards and punishments of another life. Locke.
Additional senses
- 2.(Law) A penalty inflicted by a court of justice on a convicted offender as a just retribution, and incidentally for the purposes of reformation and prevention.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00