penalize

verb

pe·​nal·​ize ˈpē-nə-ˌlīz How to pronounce penalize (audio) ˈpe- How to pronounce penalize (audio)
penalized; penalizing

transitive verb

1
: to inflict a penalty on
2
: to put at a serious disadvantage
penalization noun

Examples of penalize in a Sentence

The company was penalized for not paying taxes. The hockey player was penalized for holding. This law would unfairly penalize immigrants.
Recent Examples on the Web Apple did, however, get penalized for violating a California competition law and altered some of its app store practices in response to a court order. Brian Fung, CNN, 21 Mar. 2024 Failure to report could be penalized by up to 14 years in prison. Kanis Leung, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Mar. 2024 According to the Iditarod's statement on March 6, Seavey was penalized for failing to properly gut the moose after its death. Natasha Dye, Peoplemag, 13 Mar. 2024 Food delivery apps couldn’t penalize restaurants for different service levels The bill would ban food delivery services, such as Grubhub and DoorDash, from decreasing a restaurant’s delivery radius below a certain threshold based on what level of service the establishment pays them for. Zoe Glasser, Washington Post, 5 Mar. 2024 Outcomes of high-risk kidneys (graft and patient survival) should be tracked separately from the outcomes of standard risk kidneys, and not be used to penalize programs in the way they are currently utilized, but rather influence inclusion in the high-risk program. Joshua Mezrich, STAT, 2 Mar. 2024 For example, if the event is the global temperature in a year, these voters would announce the temperature, and the protocol would reward or penalize these voters based on consensus on the network. Korok Ray, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 Would medical doctors be penalized for authorizing medical forms for people to obtain medical marijuana cards from a tribe? Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 6 Mar. 2024 There was a fear that anyone who came to the funeral could be added to a database and possibly penalized at a later date, a rights lawyer, Evgeny Smirnov, told the independent television station Rain. Valerie Hopkins, New York Times, 1 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'penalize.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of penalize was in 1888

Dictionary Entries Near penalize

Cite this Entry

“Penalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penalize. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

penalize

verb
pe·​nal·​ize ˈpēn-ᵊl-ˌīz How to pronounce penalize (audio) ˈpen- How to pronounce penalize (audio)
penalized; penalizing
1
: to give a penalty to
2
: to place at a disadvantage

More from Merriam-Webster on penalize

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