PUNITIVE Synonyms: 30 Similar and Opposite Words

punitive

adjective

ˈpyü-nə-tiv

Definition of punitive

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

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of punitive The measure would have barred Switzerland from joining punitive measures against other countries unless they were imposed by the United Nations. — Arkansas Online, 28 Sep. 2026 When the vast majority of minor leaguers never reach the majors, the arithmetic clears only when the terms on the few who do are punitive enough to fund the rest. — Chris Koras, Sportico.com, 28 Sep. 2026 Some level of punitive cost for this blatant category fraud is long overdue. — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2026 The 2024 juvenile justice lawsuit, which an advocacy group and multiple unnamed youth in the system filed against DCS, argued that the department places youth in facilities that are more punitive than rehabilitative. — Paige Pfleger, ProPublica, 25 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for punitive

Recent Examples of Synonyms for punitive

Adjective

In general, correctional officers should not be involved with inmates’ medical decisions, but health care providers do not have the authority to remove restraints; such decisions reside with the correctional facility.

— M. Sara Rosenthal, STAT, 13 Oct. 2026
Just under 34,000 employees work for the agency, but not all are correctional officers.

— Scott Peyton, Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of correctional

Adjective

For Beccaria, an execution’s fleeting spectacle deterred less effectively than lifelong penal servitude.

— Maurizio Valsania, The Conversation, 14 Oct. 2026
Their ruling states that investigators should not have cited penal law as justification for seizing the artwork, and reproaches a lower court’s previous approval of their methods.

— Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of penal

Adjective

The latest in a long series of corrective measures was a thirteen-per-cent state income tax on millionaires, which went into effect in 2012 and is due to expire in 2030.

— Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2026
Employees who fail to comply may be subject to corrective or disciplinary action, according to the draft policy.

— Ana Goñi-Lessan, Miami Herald, 1 Oct. 2026