penitentiary
1
8.2
- adjective
- /ˌpɛnɪˈtɛnʃəri/
- US
:
penitenciario
- Shawshank evinces a sophisticated understanding of prison living, as the horrors of penitentiary existence are visually projected in a variety of ways.
Examples
-
YOU KNOW THAT'S A PENITENTIARY OFFENSE?
-
A young man, looking the way you do, without a great deal of penitentiary experience, might find himself compromised, might find himself in need of a real friend.
-
There's no law but the luck of the draw, and I'm penitentiary bound.
Fiction book (1998) -
Their studies led to the extensive use of blood-induced infections in trials in New York, Boston, and Chicago on mental patients, and volunteer conscientious objectors or penitentiary inmates to determine absorption, excretion, and distribution of the new drugs in humans.
Academic text (1994) -
The documentary highlighted the harsh conditions of penitentiary facilities designed for reforming inmates.
-
After years of reform, the penitentiary system aimed to rehabilitate rather than simply punish offenders.
-
Visiting the penitentiary revealed the challenges prisoners face in adapting to life after incarceration.
Synonyms
60
5.8
Relating to punishment or help for people who commit crimes in places like prisons
Relating to the study and practice of running prisons and punishing crime
Antonyms
3
6.4
Helping a person get better and live normally after illness, injury, addiction, or prison
How Punitive
30
7.0
- Formal
81
7.0
- US
1
8.2
27
5.2
3
6.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Penitentiary as an adjective comes from the same root paenitentia 'repentance' and the word penitent 'someone sorry', so it describes things connected to punishment or the effort to reform wrongdoers.