penalise

Everyday

1. To penalise someone is to punish them for breaking a rule or law, for example with a penalty, a fine or lost points. tree →
2. To penalise can also mean to put someone at an unfair disadvantage. tree →

In the lessons

In sport, a referee penalises a player for a foul by giving a free kick or penalty. In school, pupils may be penalised for late homework by losing marks. In law and money, people are penalised with fines. In ethics and fairness, a rule may unfairly penalise some people. Phrases: "be penalised for", "penalise heavily", "unfairly penalised".

Examples

• The referee penalised the team for a high tackle. tree →
• You will be penalised if you hand in your project late. tree →
• Drivers are penalised for speeding. tree →
• The judges penalised the dancer for stepping off the stage. tree →
• (formal) The new rule penalises families who live far from school. tree →
• In the quiz, wrong answers are penalised with minus one point. tree →
• He was penalised two points for poor spelling. tree →

Note

British, Irish, Australian and New Zealand spelling: penalise; American and often Canadian spelling: penalize. Noun: penalty. In maths problems, a penalty is usually subtracted: if you get 12 points and are penalised 3, you have 12 − 3 = 9.