capital punishmentnoun [ U ]
uk/ˌkæp.ɪ.təl ˈpʌn.ɪʃ.mənt/us/ˌkæp.ɪ.t̬əl ˈpʌn.ɪʃ.mənt/punishment by death, as ordered by a legal system
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the death penalty
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Death penalties
- behead
- burn
- chair
- condemn
- condemn sb to (do) sth
- condemned
- condemned cell
- execute
- execution
- executioner
- gallows
- garrotte
- hangman
- hung, drawn, and quartered idiom
- noose
- scaffold
- stake
- stone
- string
- string sb up
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Examples from literature
- According to one authority, capital punishment may be divided into two kinds—beheading and strangulation.
- But some say that capital punishment is inconsistent with the mild religion of Christ—the religion of mercy and love.
- Capital punishment has been abolished in some countries, likewise torture, confiscation, corporal punishment.
- For how else can they say, as I have known some say, that capital punishment is wrong, because "we have no right to usher a man into the presence of his Maker."
- While the law of the land required the capital punishment of witches, no blame ought to be attached to judges and jurors for discharging their respective duties in carrying it into execution.