Related Words Logo

Reverse Dictionary

examples: unpleasantly moistusing pretentious wordsinhabitant of earth

Click words for definitions

discipline chastise ferule scourge castigate amerce correct keelhaul trounce penalize vindicate fine swinge flagellate torture pillory smite vigilante mulct chasten spare beat disciple give victimize birch pay tar and feather fix penance knout wagon whip pain come down on punishing threaten rope's-end scalp gate slate come pillorize persecute merciful crucify blister throw the book at someone lynch get vigilance committee strappado sanction repunish strike beating go after cane
words continue after advertisement
throw the book at give someone what for punitive mercy ground boot punice deal with twink punished stone stock let teach someone a lesson even the score tar threat requite punitive damages revenge do clobber punch disciplinary skin (someone) alive take someone to the woodshed have someone's guts for garters tan (or whip) someone's hide make an example of justice vengeful come after sort kill string sb up throw the book at sb polish strafe give it to someone sort out forgive nail take the law into your own hands punishment bring someone to book bastinado amnesty kick (someone’s) ass cob infangthief decimate beaten fan tear swingeing compound malavogue visit on/upon take the law into one's own hands lightly swinging long-sufferance witch hunt serve lay on take apart kick someone's ass (or butt) soak animadvert abuse avenge witch-hunt reprisal prosecution skin sb alive be heavy on sb flay sb alive smote recompense venge be rough on (someone) come down on someone like a ton of bricks cuck warpath come down on sb like a ton of bricks smitten tar and feather (someone) come down on someone rope's–end lick lenient hair shirt strap bulldoze blast come down on sb/sth centesimate be out for/after sb's scalp what for gun for boom lash book wear let off someone bring sb to book ostracize let sb off pick on someone tarry settle a/the score on the warpath gig slap with denunciatory let someone off vengeance rap someone's knuckles skin someone alive let (someone) have it jurisdiction throw justify I’ll teach you to do something thunderbolt lictor bamboo give someone (or get) a thick ear clemency tit for tat cut off your nose to spite your face spatchcock kick (some) ass condemn secular arm superego scapegoat morganize sort sb out pay (someone) back knock heads capitally get back at someone have someone’s guts for garters thump bang heads together go easy haze criminal court consequence cat–haul flood knock together clement contempt ultimatum stick to beat (someone) with mod castigatory damage retaliatory tariff stick with which to beat (someone) draw kangaroo court drug-buster get/be even (with someone) settle a score strict get even pay someone back with interest clamp down on have sb's guts for garters pandy chaste be after someone’s blood make an example of someone inquisition openly the Spanish Inquisition beasting crackdown medicine intercede sorry sending spare the rod and spoil the child self–flagellation speed camera cat-o'-nine-tails wrath the knives are out (for someone) cook masthead fury the law jail catch up with sb blood feud paddle desert revenge porn benefit of clergy the Inquisition overlook laxity buck work vendetta Deucalion brank attachment action reprimand menace cosmopolitan justice patria potestas vigilant lynching teach damages mortify rod leniency pandora homophobia who

Popular Searches

Words For "punish"

As you've probably noticed, words for "punish" are listed above. According to the algorithm that drives this word similarity engine, the top 5 related words for "punish" are: discipline, chastise, ferule, scourge, and castigate. There are 279 other words that are related to or similar to punish listed above. Hopefully the generated list of words for "punish" above suit your needs. If not, you might want to check out Related Words - another project of mine which uses a different technique (not though that it works best with single words, not phrases).

About Reverse Dictionary

The way Reverse Dictionary works is pretty simple. It simply looks through tonnes of dictionary definitions and grabs the ones that most closely match your search query. For example, if you type something like "longing for a time in the past", then the engine will return "nostalgia". The engine has indexed several million definitions so far, and at this stage it's starting to give consistently good results (though it may return weird results sometimes). It acts a lot like a thesaurus except that it allows you to search with a definition, rather than a single word. So in a sense, this tool is a "search engine for words", or a sentence to word converter.

I made this tool after working on Related Words which is a very similar tool, except it uses a bunch of algorithms and multiple databases to find similar words to a search query. That project is closer to a thesaurus in the sense that it returns synonyms for a word (or short phrase) query, but it also returns many broadly related words that aren't included in thesauri. So this project, Reverse Dictionary, is meant to go hand-in-hand with Related Words to act as a word-finding and brainstorming toolset. For those interested, I also developed Describing Words which helps you find adjectives and interesting descriptors for things (e.g. waves, sunsets, trees, etc.).

In case you didn't notice, you can click on words in the search results and you'll be presented with the definition of that word (if available). The definitions are sourced from the famous and open-source WordNet database, so a huge thanks to the many contributors for creating such an awesome free resource.

Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source code that was used in this project: Elastic Search, @HubSpot, WordNet, and @mongodb.

Please note that Reverse Dictionary uses third party scripts (such as Google Analytics and advertisements) which use cookies. To learn more, see the privacy policy.

Recent Queries