Penalty

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pen=al=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

Penalty, n. [F. pénalité. See Penal.].

•  Penal retribution; punishment for crime or offense; the suffering in person or property which is annexed by law or judicial decision to the commission of a crime, offense, or trespass.  [1913 Webster]

  "Death is the penalty imposed."  [1913 Webster]
•  The suffering, or the sum to be forfeited, to which a person subjects himself by covenant or agreement, in case of nonfulfillment of stipulations; forfeiture; fine.  [1913 Webster]

  "The penalty and forfeit of my bond."  [1913 Webster]
•  A handicap.  [1913 Webster]

  " The term penalty is in law mostly applied to a pecuniary punishment."  [1913 Webster]

Bill of pains and penalties. See under Bill. -- On penalty of, or Under penalty of, on pain of; with exposure to the penalty of, in case of transgression.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Penalty, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a a punishment, esp. a fine, for a breach of law, contract, etc. b a fine paid.
2 a disadvantage, loss, etc., esp. as a result of one's own actions (paid the penalty for his carelessness).
3 a a disadvantage imposed on a competitor or side in a game etc. for a breach of the rules etc. b (attrib.) awarded against a side incurring a penalty (penalty kick; penalty goal).
4 Bridge etc. points gained by opponents when a contract is not fulfilled.

Idiom

penalty area Football the ground in front of the goal in which a foul by defenders involves the award of a penalty kick. penalty box Ice Hockey an area reserved for penalized players and some officials. the penalty of a disadvantage resulting from (a quality etc.). penalty rate Austral. an increased rate of pay for overtime. under (or on) penalty of under the threat of (dismissal etc.).

Etymology

AF penalte (unrecorded), F p{eacute}nalit{eacute} f. med.L penalitas (as PENAL)

THESAURUS

Penalty

abatement, acquittal, agio, allowance, amercement, bank discount, breakage, burden, burthen, cargo, cash discount, castigation, chain discount, charge, charge-off, chastening, chastisement, concession, condemnation, condign punishment, correction, cross, cumbrance, cut, deadweight, decision, deduction, depreciation, deserts, difficulty, disadvantage, disciplinary measures, discipline, discount, drawback, embarrassment, encumbrance, ferule, fine, forfeit, freight, hamper, handicap, impediment, impedimenta, imposition, imprisonment, incarceration, inconvenience, infliction, judgment, judicial punishment, kickback, landmark decision, load, lumber, mulct, nemesis, onus, pack, pains, pains and punishments, pay, payment, penal retribution, penalty clause, penance, penology, percentage, premium, price, price reduction, price-cut, punishment, punition, rebate, rebatement, reduction, refund, retribution, retributive justice, rollback, salvage, scourge, sentence, setoff, tare, time discount, trade discount, tret, trouble, underselling, verdict, weight, well-deserved punishment, what-for, white elephant, write-off

ROGET THESAURUS

Penalty

Condemnation

N condemnation, conviction, judgment, penalty, sentence, proscription, damnation, death warrant, attainder, attainture, attaintment, condemnatory, damnatory, guilty, condemned, nonsuited, self-convicted, mutato nomine de te fabula narratur, unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved.

Punishment

N punishment, punition, chastisement, chastening, correction, castigation, discipline, infliction, trial, judgment, penalty, retribution, thunderbolt, Nemesis, requital, penology, retributive justice, lash, scaffold, imprisonment, transportation, banishment, expulsion, exile, involuntary exile, ostracism, penal servitude, hard labor, galleys, beating, flagellation, fustigation, gantlet, strappado, estrapade, bastinado, argumentum baculinum, stick law, rap on the knuckles, box on the ear, blow, stripe, cuff, kick, buffet, pummel, slap, slap in the face, wipe, douse, coup de grace, torture, rack, picket, picketing, dragonnade, capital punishment, execution, lethal injection, the gas chamber, hanging, electrocution, rail-riding, scarpines, decapitation, decollation, garrotte, garrotto, crucifixion, impalement, firing squad, martyrdom, auto-da-fe, noyade, happy dispatch, hara-kiri, seppuku, drinking the hemlock, punishing, penal, punitory, punitive, inflictive, castigatory, punished, Int, a la lanterne!, culpan paena premit comes, eating the bitter bread of banishment, gravis ira regum est semper, sera tamen tacitis paena venit pedibus, suo sibi gladio hunc jugulo.

Penalty

N penalty, retribution, pain, pains and penalties, weregild, wergild, peine forte et dure, penance, the devil to pay, fine, mulct, amercement, forfeit, forfeiture, escheat, damages, deodand, sequestration, confiscation, premunire, doomage.