impunity
noun
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Impunity (like the words pain, penal, and punish) traces to the Latin noun poena, meaning "punishment." The Latin word, in turn, came from Greek poinē, meaning "payment" or "penalty." People acting with impunity have prompted use of the word since the 1500s. An illustrative example from 1660 penned by Englishman Roger Coke reads: "This unlimited power of doing anything with impunity, will only beget a confidence in kings of doing what they [desire]." While royals may act with impunity more easily than others, the word impunity can be applied to the lowliest of beings as well as the loftiest: "The local hollies seem to have lots of berries this year.… A single one won't harm you, but eating a handful would surely make you pretty sick, and might kill you. Birds such as robins, mockingbirds, and cedar waxwings eat them with impunity." (Karl Anderson, The Gloucester County Times, 22 Dec. 2002).
Examples of impunity in a Sentence
Marc J. Dunkelman, TIME, 27 Feb. 2025
That aura of complete and total impunity surrounding the executive branch is the only possible explanation for the confirmation of wild-eyed conspiracy theorist Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
—Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
Putin’s quasi-genocidal barbarities in Ukraine and Xi’s industrial-scale repression in Xinjiang threaten to restore a world of autocratic impunity and rampant atrocity.
—Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
Commutations for unsophisticated folk who had been over-sentenced would have been defensible, but impunity for practitioners of political violence is what doomed the Weimar Republic.
—George Liebmann, Baltimore Sun, 23 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for impunity
Cite this Entry
“Impunity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impunity. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025.
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impunity
noun
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