penalize
Other forms: penalized; penalizing; penalizes
When you penalize someone, you punish them. A traffic cop will usually penalize a speeder with an expensive ticket.
A court might penalize a criminal with fines or time in prison, while a frustrated teacher is more likely to penalize the class clown with detention. Sports referees frequently penalize players by allowing the opposing team an advantage of some sort, like a penalty kick in soccer or a free throw in basketball. Penalize is rooted in penal, or "pertaining to punishment." The Greek root is poine, "penalty, punishment, or blood money."
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impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on“The students were penalized for showing up late for class”types:tar-and-feathersmear the body of (someone) with tar and feathers; done in some societies as punishmentpillorypunish by putting in a pillorycastigateinflict severe punishment onamercepunish with an arbitrary penaltyscourgepunish severely; excoriatecrucifykill by nailing onto a crossburnburn at the stake
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Vocabulary lists containing penalize
After a thirteen-year-old football player ends up in a coma, his family and medical team try to piece together what happened.
On March 29, 1960, The New York Times ran an ad to defend Martin Luther King Jr. from an Alabama perjury indictment. To solicit funds, the ad included details of police actions against participants in a civil rights demonstration. In response, Montgomery Commissioner L.B. Sullivan filed a libel suit. The Supreme Court ruled that, unless the public figure can prove actual malice, the First Amendment protects the freedom of the press. The unanimous opinion was written by Justice William Brennan. Read the full text here. This list covers vocabulary in paragraphs 37-59 of the opinion.