Wordnet 3.0
ADJECTIVE (1)
1. inflicting punishment;
- Example: "punitive justice"
- Example: "punitive damages"
[syn: punitive, punitory]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
34 Moby Thesaurus words for "punitive": 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

