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Punitive vs Preventative - What's the difference?

punitive | preventative |

As adjectives the difference between punitive and preventative

is that punitive is (legal|military) inflicting punishment, punishing while preventative is .

As a noun preventative is

.

punitive

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (legal, military) inflicting punishment, punishing
    • Washington imposed punitive sanctions on Syria.
    The jury awarded $10,000 in punitive damages.

    Related terms

    * punishment * punitive damages * punitively ----

    preventative

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • *1920, Lillien Jane Martin, Mental hygiene: two years' experience of a clinical psychologist , Warwick &York (1920), p. 78,
  • *:"That part of mental hygiene which has a prophylactic character falls into two classes, group preventative mental hygiene […]"
  • *1968, G. Anthony Wedge, N. A. P.: New American Party , Geddes Press Printers (1968), p. 155,
  • *:"Preventative defense comes in two flavors […]"
  • *2006, Robert Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, Repairing & Upgrading Your PC , O'Reilly (2006), p. 70,
  • *:"The goals of preventative maintenance are to reduce the likelihood of hardware failures, […]"

    • Noun

    (en noun)

    • Usage notes

    *Preventative'' is in all senses synonymous with ''preventive''. Many speakers prefer to use ''preventative'' in noun senses and ''preventive in adjective senses.[http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/nonerrors.html
  • preventive]