How to Use punitive in a Sentence

punitive

adjective

• Lobbyists complain that the bill would impose punitive taxes on the industry.
• The federal government will take punitive action against the company that polluted the river.
• The failure-to-pay penalty is less punitive than the one for failing to file.
  — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 18 Apr. 2022
• But the punitive award wasn’t the highest Bellis could have imposed.
  — Laurel Calkins, Fortune, 10 Nov. 2022
• Newsom’s order opened the door for more punitive actions across the state.
  — Deyanira Nevárez Martínez, The Conversation, 2 Oct. 2024
• Extreme punitive measures The hijab has long been a point of contention in Iran.
  — Celine Alkhaldi, CNN, 2 Aug. 2023
• Barring you from the house is a serious case of punitive excess.
  — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
• In Georgia, 75% of proceeds from punitive damage verdicts go to the state.
  — Robert Burnson, BostonGlobe.com, 20 Aug. 2022
• None of the officers were removed from their jobs, and the reprimands were non-punitive, the spokesperson said.
  — Andrew Dyer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Oct. 2022
• This was just the latest of a series of punitive measures meant to discourage refugees.
  — Ursula Lindsey, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2022
• The court struck down Jim Crow laws, expanded the franchise, and erected guardrails to constrain the punitive machinery of the state.
  — Ian MacDougall, Harper’s Magazine , 28 Sep. 2022
• Her punitive response to the breakup is a different story, though, and strikes me as the cherry on the Jack’s-good-judgment sundae.
  — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 28 June 2023
• The 7th Circuit sent the case back to the trial court to determine whether the ordinance is also punitive.
  — Bruce Vielmetti, Journal Sentinel, 12 Aug. 2022
• About five minutes into the first 7 on 7 period, that crowd got a good look of Devin Brown running his first punitive lap of camp.
  — Nathan Baird, cleveland, 3 Aug. 2023
• These are crisp red flags around the boyfriend — of stubbornness, a punitive us-vs.-them worldview, a fragile ego and a taste for seizing control.
  — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 28 Oct. 2023
• The program helps those who may have been involved with the court or punitive systems, Hines said, but is also open to serving any kind of in-need youth.
  — Caroline Beck, The Indianapolis Star, 30 Aug. 2022
• The punitive nature of some of the laws that have been passed in Texas and other states would lead to women performing abortions on themselves.
  — Katherine Stuart Van Wormer, Washington Post, 20 June 2022
• That may be why so much of this story, despite the dedication of Vartolomei in the leading role, feels punitive and pinched.
  — The New Yorker, 6 May 2022
• The turn to criminal law and punitive measures to address public health issues is not new in and of itself.
  — Mary Ziegler and Aziza Ahmed, CNN, 23 Mar. 2022
• But the version that came out of committee this week lost that punitive component.
  — Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 2 Feb. 2024
• The harsh terms of that peace, with further punitive demands against the Germans in the Treaty of Versailles, sowed the seeds of a German discontent that would help launch the next world war 21 years later.
  — Nick Yetto, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 June 2023
• There’s nothing much worse than spending an evening with a group of people who are about to start a diet, a punitive exercise regime, a detox or a fast.
  — Time, 30 Dec. 2022
• So owners have to be planning for the potential for more punitive estate taxes in the coming years.
  — Robert Frank, CNBC, 3 Sep. 2024
• In many cases, it was used as a punitive measure rather than being deployed just to keep staff and other children safe.
  — Rachel Smith, The Courier-Journal, 15 May 2024
• He was expected to announce a series of punitive measures against the Palestinians later in the evening.
  — Isabel Debre, ajc, 28 Jan. 2023
• The law in Missouri mimics these moves from the war on drugs in its emphasis on being punitive rather than reducing harm.
  — Mary Ziegler and Aziza Ahmed, CNN, 23 Mar. 2022
• This is not punitive; it is designed to protect the person in need -- as well as the family and community around them.
  — Byjohn Cohen, ABC News, 7 July 2022
• But experts say that in practice, the agency’s approach is often punitive.
  — Elizabeth Koh, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Sep. 2023
• Bruner said the detention center staff are punitive when her pregnant daughter acts out or gets into a fight.
  — Josephine Peterson, Dallas News, 29 June 2023
• How, then, are FBAR penalties deemed to be remedial as opposed to punitive?
  — Robert Goulder, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024

Last Updated: 16 Nov 2024