punishable

C2+ Topic:Law & Government

US /ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl/ UK /ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
liable to or deserving of punishment under law or rule

Tax evasion is a crime punishable by imprisonment.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · liable to or deserving of... culpable blameworthypenalizableactionable

Opposites

unpunishableblameless excusable

Word family

Derived forms punishability

Related forms punish punishment punitive punition

Etymology

From punish + -able; punish derives from Old French puniss-, stem of punir ('to punish'), from Latin punire ('to punish'), from poena ('penalty').

punir Old French punire Latin poena Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Law & Government Word Formation & Derivatives

# punishable

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl
**IPA (UK):** ˈpʌnɪʃəbəl

## Meanings
1. liable to or deserving of punishment under law or rule

## Examples
- Tax evasion is a crime punishable by imprisonment.

## Synonyms
- culpable
- blameworthy
- penalizable
- actionable

## Antonyms
- unpunishable
- blameless
- excusable

## Derived Forms
- punishability

## Related Forms
- punish
- punishment
- punitive
- punition

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: punir
- Root: punire
- Root: poena

## Etymology
From punish + -able; punish derives from Old French puniss-, stem of punir ('to punish'), from Latin punire ('to punish'), from poena ('penalty').

## AI Etymology
Punishable is from punish + -able; punish derives from Old French puniss-, stem of punir ('to punish'), from Latin punire ('to punish'), from poena ('penalty'). Important recorded forms include punir (Old French), punire (Latin), and poena (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers liable to or deserving of punishment under law or rule. The wider family includes derived forms such as punishability and related words such as punish, punishment, punitive, and punition.

## Topics
- Law & Government
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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