impunity

English

Etymology

From Middle French impunité, from Latin impunitas, from impunis (“without punishment”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɪmˈpjuːnɪti/

Noun

impunity (countable and uncountable, plural impunities)

  1. (countable, law) Exemption from punishment.
  2. (uncountable) Freedom from punishment or retribution; security from any reprisal or injurious consequences of an action, behaviour etc.
    • 1846, Edgar Allen Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:
      I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser.
    • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 495:
      The remoteness of the prison made the authorities feel they could ignore us with impunity.

Translations

References
  • “impunity” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
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