penalty
nouncommon in dialogue
- //ˈpɛn.əl.ti//
A legal sentence.
noun
- 1
A legal sentence.
The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
- 2
A punishment for violating rules of procedure.
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?
- 3
A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
- 4
In sports: A direct free kick from the penalty spot, taken after a defensive foul in the penalty box; a penalty kick.
- 5
In sports: 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.
- 6
A disadvantageous consequence of a previous event.
"But you, my noble, my generous girl!" exclaimed Lord Avonleigh, "I dare not let you pay the penalty of my former folly."
Etymology
From Middle French pénalité, from pénal, from Latin poenālis, from poena, borrowing of Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ), from Proto-Hellenic *kʷoinā́, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoynéh₂, comprising *kʷey- + *-néh₂.
Forms
- plural
- penalties