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What is the difference between punishment and penalty?

punishment | penalty |

As nouns the difference between punishment and penalty

is that punishment is the act or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction while penalty is a legal sentence.

punishment

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction.
  • A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.
  • A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution
  • (figuratively) Any treatment or experience so harsh it feels like being punished; rough handling
  • a vehicle that can take a lot of punishment

    Synonyms

    * castigation * punition * beating

    Antonyms

    * reward

    Hyponyms

    * retribution

    Derived terms

    * corporal punishment * mirror punishment * (l)

    penalty

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Noun

    (penalties)
  • A legal sentence.
  • The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
  • A punishment for violating rules of procedure.
  • * 1900', , Chapter I,
  • Was it so irreconcilable, Warwick wondered, as still to peal out the curfew bell, which at nine o'clock at night had clamorously warned all negroes, slave or free, that it was unlawful for them to be abroad after that hour, under penalty of imprisonment or whipping?
  • (finance) A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
  • (football) A direct free kick from the penalty spot, taken after a defensive foul in the penalty box; a penalty kick.
  • (ice hockey) A punishment for an infraction of the rules, often in the form of being removed from play for a specified amount of time.
  • A penalty was called when he tripped up his opponent.

    Derived terms

    * penalty arc * penalty box * penalty kick * penalty area * penalty phase * penalty shot * penalty shoot-out * penalty spot

    See also

    * free kick

    Anagrams

    * ----