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Common collocations with punish in American Collocation

punish verb transitive

US /ˈpʌnɪʃ/

severely

harshly
heavily
severely

He was caught trying to break out of prison and he was severely punished.

in a cruel way

brutally
cruelly
ruthlessly

Some of the workers went on strike, and were brutally punished for it.

properly

accordingly
duly
properly

We will ensure that those who are dealing drugs are properly punished.

fairly

fairly
justly

Justice means ensuring people who break the law are punished fairly and rehabilitated if possible.

unfairly

unfairly
unjustly

Who doesn’t remember being unfairly punished by their teachers?

physically

physically

The study found that children who were smacked were more likely to display aggression than those who were never physically punished.

person

criminal
culprit
murderer
offender
perpetrator
wrongdoer

The key question to ask is whether punishing offenders actually reduces crime.

bad or illegal act

behaviour
crime
infringement
offence
transgression

The role of the criminal justice system is of course to detect and punish crimes.

act that is against religious laws

evil
sin

God’s justice demands that sin be punished.

failure

failure

Their position is that we should reward success and punish failure.