'Punitive' definitions:
Definition of 'punitive'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Inflicting punishment; "punitive justice"; "punitive damages" [syn: punitive, punitory] [ant: rehabilitative]
Definition of 'Punitive'
From: GCIDE
- Punitive \Pu"ni*tive\, a. Of or pertaining to punishment; involving, awarding, or inflicting punishment; as, punitive law or justice. [1913 Webster]
- If death be punitive, so, likewise, is the necessity imposed upon man of toiling for his subsistence. -- I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
- We shall dread a blow from the punitive hand. --Bagehot. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'punitive'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- avenging,
- castigating,
- castigatory,
- chastening,
- chastising,
- compensatory,
- correctional,
- corrective,
- disciplinary,
- grudgeful,
- grueling,
- implacable,
- inflictive,
- irreconcilable,
- penal,
- penological,
- punishing,
- punitory,
- rancorous,
- reciprocal,
- recompensing,
- recompensive,
- reparative,
- restitutive,
- retaliative,
- retaliatory,
- retributive,
- retributory,
- revanchist,
- revengeful,
- unappeasable,
- vengeful,
- vindicatory,
- vindictive