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View synonyms for penal

penal

[ peen-l ]

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or involving punishment, as for crimes or offenses.
  2. prescribing punishment:

    penal laws.

  3. constituting punishment:

    He survived the years of penal hardship.

  4. used as a place of confinement and punishment:

    a penal colony.

  5. subject to or incurring punishment:

    a penal offense.

  6. payable or forfeitable as a penalty:

    a penal sum.



penal

/ ˈpiːnəl /

adjective

  1. of, relating to, constituting, or prescribing punishment
  2. payable as a penalty

    a penal sum

  3. used or designated as a place of punishment

    a penal institution



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Derived Forms

  • ˈpenally, adverb

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Other Words From

  • pe·nal·i·ty [pi-, nal, -i-tee], noun
  • penal·ly adverb
  • non·penal adjective
  • un·penal adjective
  • un·penal·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of penal1

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin poenālis, equivalent to poen ( a ) penalty (< Greek poinḗ fine) + -ālis -al 1

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Word History and Origins

Origin of penal1

C15: from Late Latin poenālis concerning punishment, from poena penalty

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Example Sentences

Section 377 of Pakistan’s colonial-era penal code that criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations remains in place.

He was sent to a penal colony where he says he is subjected to “psychological violence,” including being forced to watch state TV eight hours a day.

From Time

Responsibility for resolving the situation fell to Russell Oswald, the state penal chief who’d been in his position for less than a year.

He has been transferred from one miserable penal facility to another where he is now on a regimen of “vitamin therapy.”

From Time

He said he sent documents to the penal service informing it of his whereabouts.

Krivov was sentenced to serve four years at a general regime penal colony for his fight for freedom and human rights.

This sum, outlined in the penal code, is double for a male than it is for a female.

And in just one night, we committed at least two offenses under his newly implemented penal code.

Those whom the state considers dangerous are walked through show trials and banished into the notoriously harsh penal system.

Who then could be tried as a war criminal under the 1871 penal code?

Since the examination of this harbour, a penal settlement has been formed, and a pilot appointed to conduct vessels in and out.

William's reign was marked by a long list of new penal laws directed against them.

The Corporation would virtuously disown him and leave him to face a ten-year rap in Penal Colony.

A terrible criminal case was the result, and the man was sentenced to penal servitude for life.

The third penal Bill brought in and passed was said to have been specially recommended by the King himself.

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penpenal code