Penalty

A penalty is most often a punishment, and may also mean:

• in law:
  • Sentence (law), for example the death penalty
  • Sanctions (law), a punishment for violating rules of procedure, or for abusing the judicial process.
• in sports:
  • getting a Penalty (American football) gets a punishment for your team's rule infraction
  • getting a Penalty kick (football/soccer) gets a "reward" for the other team's rule infraction, or refers to the tiebreak procedure where there has been no rule infraction, and there is neither a punishment nor a reward. See also Penalty area.
  • in Contract Bridge and other card games a penalty can be both an "intra-game" scoring bonus which is not associated with any rule infraction, or an "extra-game" punishment for a rule infraction such as a "revoke".
  • Penalty (ice hockey). See also Penalty box.
  • Penalty (rugby)
  • Penalty (Brazilian sports manufacturer)
  • in other sports or games, penalties may be referred to as fouls or faults
• in finance and banking:
  • a payment forfeited for an early withdrawal from an account or an investment
  • Tax penalty, a fee required for missing a deadline or some other violation.
• In entertainment:
  • The Penalty, a film.