Definition: 1. To make somebody suffer because they have broken the law or done something wrong. 2. Impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on. 3. To set the punishment for a particular crime.
Use 'punish' in a sentence:
1. Drivers who park their cars illegally, particularly obstructing traffic flow, deserve to be punished.
2. Juries sympathetic to the victims of machines will punish entrepreneurs with company-crushing penalties and damages.
3. The President has a punishing schedule for the next six months.
4. I don't believe that George ever had to punish the children.
5. Two sides almost never change: that you can manipulate people into self-sufficiency and that you can punish them into good citizenship.
6. He was punished for refusing to answer their questions.
7. Current employment laws will be changed to reward effort and punish laziness.
8. Richard could easily destroy her personal property to punish her for walking out on him.
9. It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't.
10. Those responsible for this crime will be severely punished.
11. You shall suffer for it—we will punish you by a bloody war.
12. Mastro Geppetto, in order to punish him for his mischief, let him alone the whole morning.
13. If I have ever hurt you in any way, do not punish me.
14. Whoever did this will sooner or later be caught and will be punished.
15. She was punished by teachers for answering back.
16. "My dear uncle," the old lady said with animation, "we must not punish him further."
17. The courses are long and punishing, with steep gradients.
18. He confided to me that he felt like he was being punished.
19. Now I will plague and punish thee at thy own house.
20. When Tom returned home from school, his mom asked, "Did your teacher punish you today?"
21. According to present law, the authorities can only punish smugglers with small fines.
22. "We as a society need to understand that when we don't punish lying,we increase the probability it will happen again," Ariely says.
23. It makes me sick that people commit offences and never get punished.
24. To be angry is to punish yourself with the fault of others.
25. There's no mechanism for punishing arms exporters who break the rules.
26. The bill creates an oversight board with the authority to investigate and punish accounting firms.
27. He was punished for disobeying orders.
28. The studio could punish its players by keeping them out of work, and otherwise controlling their lives.
29. Clara shrieked: "Oh, Miss Rottenmeier, you must wait till Papa comes home, and then he can punish Heidi."
30. It was unfair to punish them.
31. Did you have to punish him very often when you trained him?
32. Such behaviour is unacceptable and will be punished.
33. Parents should at once punish the children who lied.
34. Don't punish John, air.
35. Those who refuse to repent, he said, will be punished.
36. Don't punish your child for being honest.
37. It's unfair to punish a whole class for the actions of one or two students.
38. The government voted to punish corruption in sport with up to four years in jail.
39. Foreigners must use their power not simply to punish the country but to nudge it toward greater tolerance.
40. I was embarrassed how to punish him when I discovered his part in the business: he's such a cobweb, a pinch would annihilate him.
41. Ask their parents to punish her brother.
42. Many children are rented and that is precisely what we hope to punish.
43. My parents used to punish me by not letting me watch TV.
44. In effect she is punishing her parents for making her feel threatened and insecure.
45. The third day, Tom didn't play in the water, because he was afraid that his father would punish him.
46. Reward the honesty even if you feel you must punish the wrong action.
47. I could punish you now, but I'll wait!
48. Ms Carey appeared to blame her breakdown on EMI's punishing work schedule.
49. In those days murder was always punished with the death penalty.
50. The wrong man had been punished.
51. His punishing schedule seemed to dim his fire at times.
52. The film ended most satisfactorily: vice punished and virtue rewarded.
53. The voters may be ready to punish the politicians who devised a faint-hearted solidarity pact.
54. He claimed his punishing work schedule had made him resort to taking the drug.
55. Any soldier failing to report would be considered absent without leave and punished accordingly.
56. Besides diets, he devised punishing exercise routines.
