How to Use penal in a Sentence

penal

adjective
Definition of penalnext
Synonyms for penalnext
  • He was sentenced in June to 14 years in a penal colony.
    — Jonathan Abrams, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Dec. 2022
  • He was sentenced to more than two years in a penal colony.
    — Washington Post, 19 Apr. 2021
  • Three young women are sent to the fledgling British penal colony of Australia in the 1840s.
    — Star Tribune, 15 Sep. 2020
  • In August, she was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.
    — Lindsay Schnell, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2022
  • By then, he’d already been buried in a pauper’s grave on the grounds of the Hinds County penal farm.
    — Jon Schuppe, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2023
  • In fact, two of the young women were sentenced to one of Russia’s penal colonies.
    — Evgeny Lebedev, Vogue, 30 Aug. 2022
  • He has been sentenced to two-plus years in prison and sent to a penal colony outside of Moscow.
    — Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY, 16 June 2021
  • On the other side of the barbed wire, the Texas towns that housed the new penal facilities prospered.
    — Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2020
  • Short sentences in Russia are served in jails while most longer terms are served in penal colonies.
    — Andrew E. Kramer, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Feb. 2021
  • Griner, 31, was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony, and experts say such places are as bad as the term sounds.
    — Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 4 Aug. 2022
  • Griner’s transfer to a penal colony marked that milestone.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, BostonGlobe.com, 18 Nov. 2022
  • But a year later Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.
    — Ivan Pereira, ABC News, 5 Apr. 2022
  • Mota says this is about the structure of our penal system.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 June 2021
  • The bunkers are penal, composed of a dark, heavy dirt and surrounded by fescue.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Oct. 2019
  • Just last month, the athlete was transferred to one of the harshest types of Russian penal colonies for women.
    — Jodi Guglielmi, Rolling Stone, 8 Dec. 2022
  • One year later, Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.
    — Ivan Pereira, ABC News, 27 Apr. 2022
  • He was awarded the prize while serving a more than two-year sentence in a Russian penal colony.
    — New York Times, 20 Oct. 2021
  • She was convicted and sentenced in August to serve nine years in a penal colony.
    — Ann M. Simmons, WSJ, 18 Nov. 2022
  • But white leaders found a workaround via the penal system.
    — Ashlee Marie Preston, Harper's BAZAAR, 8 Mar. 2021
  • Rybakov was sentenced to six years in a penal colony above the Arctic Circle and Volkov to seven years.
    — Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2022
  • Griner spent months in a penal colony after being sentenced to 9½ years in prison on minor drug charges.
    — Joanna Slater, Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2022
  • At least some Ukrainians were taken to a former penal colony.
    — Compiled Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, Arkansas Online, 22 May 2022
  • Russia’s penal colonies, though improved, are still set up along the lines of Gulag camps created in the 1930s.
    — Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 2 Mar. 2021
  • More details are emerging about the penal colony Brittney Griner has been sent to in Russia to serve a 9-year sentence.
    — Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 14 Nov. 2022
  • Alyokhina and her friend Nadya Tolokonnikova spent two years in penal colonies.
    — Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 16 Dec. 2022
  • She has been transferred to a penal colony roughly 300 miles southeast of Moscow, per Reuters.
    — Justin Klawans, The Week, 18 Nov. 2022
  • Arson in the third degree can carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, according to New York penal law.
    — Washington Post, 30 July 2021
  • The 32-year-old Griner is serving a nine-year sentence for drug possession at a Russian penal colony.
    — Janie McCauley, ajc, 21 Nov. 2022
  • This will highlight the penal green surrounds, while shorter rough gives opportunity for aggressive approach shots to the green.
    — Jay Ginsbach, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
  • Tanner Leopold, 27, a correctional sergeant, faces one count of abuse of residents of penal facilities.
    — Vanessa Swales, Journal Sentinel, 7 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'penal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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