How to Use punish in a Sentence

punish

verb
  • She was punished for lying.
  • State law punishes fraud with fines.
  • His parents punished him by taking away his allowance.
  • I think that murderers should be punished by life imprisonment.
  • How should I punish my child's misbehavior?
  • But the best sides will punish you.
    — Simon Johnson, New York Times, 8 Mar. 2026
  • The league did not punish them.
    — Eric Koreen, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2026
  • And now she's been punished for it.
    — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 24 June 2026
  • If men do wrong, they get punished.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Three years is a long time to get punished.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 8 Feb. 2026
  • So far has he been punished in any way?
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 9 Mar. 2026
  • My mom didn’t have the heart to punish us.
    — Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2025
  • There is a risk you could be brought back to court and punished.
    — Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 9 Apr. 2026
  • Of course, that lawyer was punished for telling the truth in court.
    — Nik Popli, Time, 30 Apr. 2025
  • There are long straights that punish you if your car is slow in a straight line.
    — Patrick Iversen, New York Times, 15 May 2026
  • This is the person who needs to be punished.
    — Dan Raby, CBS News, 3 Mar. 2026
  • He’s punished for trying to do the right thing.
    — Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
  • The goal should not be to punish countries.
    — Tara Winter, Sourcing Journal, 24 Mar. 2026
  • And for that he is now being punished.
    — Billy Ray, Deadline, 29 Sep. 2025
  • They can be punished for doing so.
    — Keri Heath, Austin American Statesman, 5 Feb. 2026
  • The man who would punish him for the speech was born into it.
    — Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026
  • Maybe she’s being punished for her sin?
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
  • We were punished for that today, and that’s still a work in progress.
    — Megan Feringa, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2025
  • But the players were not punished.
    — Hannah Keyser, CNN Money, 19 June 2026
  • Rule changes of this scope reward the smart adapters and punish the slow movers.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026
  • Don’t panic… eclipses aren’t here to punish.
    — Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 31 Aug. 2025
  • Some teens have a valid fear that their parents won’t help, and might even punish them.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Hansen felt that she was being punished and struggled not to cry.
    — Sharon Lerner, ProPublica, 20 May 2024
  • Our goal is to protect the program, not punish the poor.
    — John Deaton, Boston Herald, 16 Feb. 2026
  • The misdemeanor crime can be punished with up to three months in jail.
    — Shelly Bradbury, The Denver Post, 21 Feb. 2024

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

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