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
Jakob Rodgers, The Mercury News, 10 Nov. 2024
In his four years as the district attorney in the nation’s second-largest city, progressive Gascón sought solutions for America’s mass incarceration dilemma that many deemed too lenient and said fueled lawlessness and led to crimes committed with impunity.
—Kevin Dolak, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Oct. 2024
In short, customers feel a greater sense of power under such conditions, acting with impunity by harassing workers.
—Nina Turner, Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2024
But in recent years, the United States has taken deliberate steps to disable the WTO’s dispute-settlement mechanism so that Washington can pursue policies that violate WTO rules with impunity.
—Kristen Hopewell, Foreign Affairs, 7 Oct. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near impunity
Cite this Entry
“Impunity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impunity. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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impunity
noun
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