cruel and unusual punishment
15
5.9
- noun
- /kruːəl ənd ˈjuːnʌʒəl ˈpʌnɪʃmənt/
- Formal
- And talk about cruel and unusual punishment, did we know that the state of Florida didn't allow conjugal visits?
- prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment
- imposing cruel and unusual punishment
- cruel and unusual punishment clause
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Watch on YouTubeThere's no reason, principled reason, why some are and some aren't, and therefore it's an excessive and cruel and unusual punishment.
- There's no reason, principled reason, why some are and some aren't, and therefore it's an excessive and cruel and unusual punishment.
Examples
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Doesn't denying someone proper medical care constitute cruel and unusual punishment?
Fiction book (2000) -
What did a freestanding prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment achieve?
Academic text (2004) -
And it was-- it was cruel and unusual punishment.
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For a man like him... that was cruel and unusual punishment.
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This is cruel and unusual punishment, my friend.
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I may not have learned much in life, but I recognize cruel and unusual punishment when I see it.
Fiction book (1999) -
And I think that'd be cruel and unusual punishment.
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That's cruel and unusual punishment.
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The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment of prisoners.
Academic text (2004) -
The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment of prisoners.
Synonyms
6
8.3
An act that causes someone great pain and suffering on purpose
4
7.0
Cruel treatment that hurts people or animals physically and emotionally
3
6.4
Cruel treatment of a person or animal, often over a long time
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
cruel + and + unusual + punishment
The meaning is directly built from its parts: 'cruel' and 'unusual' both qualify 'punishment', so a learner who knows those words can infer it means an inhumane or atypically harsh penalty. While the phrase also has a specific legal/constitutional usage in U.S. law, that institutional nuance does not prevent a B1 learner from deriving the core meaning from the constituents.
Etymology
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase from early American law that paints a clear picture: cruel means very hurtful, and unusual means 'not normal'. So the phrase came to mean any punishment that is 'too harsh' or 'strange' to be allowed under the U.S. Constitution.