punish

present (v1)

punish

past (v2)

punished

past participle (v3)

punished

present participle

punishing

3rd person singular

punishes

1. 1.To cause (a child, student, or someone else being looked after, or a suspect or criminal) to suffer for crime or misconduct, to administer disciplinary action, typically by an authority or a person in authority (for example: a parent, teacher, or police officer).

   • The law needs to punish this behaviour as a deterrent to others.
   • If a prince violates the law, then he must be punished like an ordinary person.
   • His mother had punished him when he'd deserved it. She'd loved him, he was “all she had,” but she'd punished him, too.

2. 2.To treat harshly and unfairly.

   • The rider who comes back on his horse in mid-air over a fence is punishing his horse severely.
   • But each effort that Anna makes , and she has attempted many, meets with obstacles from a welfare bureaucracy that punishes single mothers for initiative and partial economic self-sufficiency.

3. 3.To handle or beat severely; to maul.(colloquial)

4. 4.To consume a large quantity of.(colloquial)

   • A few moments later, we were all sitting around the veranda of the hunters' dining hall, punishing the gin, as usual.

Overall

Uncommon· #3716

By learning goal

Everyday conversation

Rare

General reading & writing

Uncommon

Academic

Rare

Literature

Rare

Word family

• punishment