penalty (n.)

  1. the act of punishing

    [ Syn: punishment , penalization , penalisation ]

  2. a payment required for not fulfilling a contract

  3. the disadvantage or painful consequences of an action or condition; neglected his health and paid the penalty'

  4. (games) a handicap or disadvantage that is imposed on a competitor (or a team) for an infraction of the rules of the game

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
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