1
: of, relating to, or involving punishment, penalties, or punitive institutions
2
: liable to punishment
a penal offense
3
: used as a place of confinement and punishment
a penal colony
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A state or country's penal code defines its crimes and describes its punishments. During the 18th and 19th centuries, many countries established penal colonies, where criminals were sent as punishment. Often these were unbearably severe; but it was to such colonies that some of Australia's and the United States' early white inhabitants came, and the convicts provided labor for the European settlement of these lands.
Examples of penal in a Sentence
Australia was once a penal colony.
Recent Examples on the Web
In the new South, one scrabbling to industrialize, business owners could now hire unpaid labor through the penal system.
—
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 26 Apr. 2026
The Mexican Mafia was started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that controls smuggling, drug sales and extortion from inside California’s penal system.
—ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026
The colony’s penal function brought in large sums from the British treasury.
—Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Mar. 2026
Centuries of penal laws had left Catholics as impoverished tenant farmers, while Protestants – wealthier and less reliant on the crop – had greater resources to survive.
—Paula Kane, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for penal
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Sara Holdren, Vulture, 26 Apr. 2026
The Mexican Mafia was started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that controls smuggling, drug sales and extortion from inside California’s penal system.
—ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026
The colony’s penal function brought in large sums from the British treasury.
—Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Mar. 2026
Centuries of penal laws had left Catholics as impoverished tenant farmers, while Protestants – wealthier and less reliant on the crop – had greater resources to survive.
—Paula Kane, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for penal
Cite this Entry
“Penal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penal. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
penal
adjective
pe·nal
ˈpēn-ᵊl 
: of or relating to punishment
penal laws
a penal colony
Legal Definition
penal
adjective
pe·nal
ˈpēn-ᵊl
1
: of, relating to, or being punishment
penal sanctions
2
: making one (as an offender) punishable
a penal offense
also
: criminal sense 2
3
: used as a place of confinement and punishment
a penal institution
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