Noun

• Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada standard spelling of offense.

Noun

• A legal sentence.
• A punishment for violating rules of procedure.
• (finance) A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
• (soccer) A direct free kick from the penalty spot, taken after a defensive foul in the penalty box; a penalty kick.
• (ice hockey) A punishment for an infraction of the rules, often in the form of being removed from play for a specified amount of time.

Synonyms

• punition
• punishment
• sentence

Related terms

• penal
• penality (rare)
• penalize

Examples

• The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
• 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?
• A penalty was called when he tripped up his opponent.