Noun

penalty (plural penalties)

1. A legal sentence.
   
   The penalty for his crime was to do hard labor.
   
   
2. A punishment for violating rules of procedure.
3. (finance) A payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment.
4. (soccer) A direct free-kick from the penalty spot, taken after a defensive foul in the penalty box.
5. (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.
   
   A penalty was called when he tripped up his opponent.

Derived terms

• penalty arc
• penalty box
• penalty kick
• penalty area
• penalty phase
• penalty shot
• penalty shoot-out
• penalty spot

See also

• free kick
• penal

Further reading

In law:

• Penalty, a sentence (decree of punishment) issued by a court or judge
• Penalty, sanctions imposed by a court or judge

This entry is from Wiktionary - Dictionary and thesaurus. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.