punished

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of punish.

   The court punished the company with a large fine.

   Several drivers were punished for ignoring the speed limit.

   Note

   One spelling does three jobs here: the simple past (the court punished the company), the perfect after have, and the passive after be. It also carries the looser meanings of punish. A boxer can be punished by a heavier opponent, a team can be punished for an error, and in casual speech a hungry diner can be said to have punished a plate of food.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having been subjected to a penalty imposed for an offense or wrongdoing.

   The punished offenders showed little remorse during the hearing.

   Heavily punished by the league, the club struggled to rebuild its reputation.

   Similarpenalized, disciplined, chastised

   Oppositepardoned, unpunished

   Note

   The participle turned descriptive is most at home before a noun: punished offenders, a punished team. It is gradable, with more punished and most punished, and it takes degree words such as heavily. After be it blurs into the past-tense verb form. A by-phrase naming who did the punishing points to the verb, while a word like very points to the adjective.

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