Impunity Meaning
/ɪmˈpjuːnɪti/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounExemption from punishment.
nounFreedom from punishment or retribution; security from any reprisal or injurious consequences of an action, behaviour etc.
Sentence Examples
No one attacks me with impunity.
The occupying forces commit all sorts of crimes with absolute impunity.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wealthy criminal broke the law with ____, knowing he would not be punished.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In some unstable countries, powerful criminals often seem to act with total ____ from the law.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French impunité, from Latin impunitas, from impunis (“without punishment”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Maternus, a private ſoldier, of a daring boldneſs above his ſtation,[…] plundered with impunity the rich and defenceleſs cities of Gaul and Spain."
— 1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter IV, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 91:
"I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser."
— 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:
"The remoteness of the prison made the authorities feel they could ignore us with impunity."
— 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 495:
"[...] and the rebuilding of Birmingham New Street with its Taurus Bar ("where one for the road - the railroad - can be taken with impunity")."
— 2021 March 10, Greg Morse, “Telling the railway's story on film”, in RAIL, number 926, pages 44–45:
"If Russia’s President Vladimir Putin could order his troops into his neighbor with impunity, surely China’s President Xi Jinping might finally decide to recover Taiwan, the island province that has remained staunchly independent ever since Mao Zedong’s Red Army finished his conquest of the mainland in 1949."
— 2022 August 30, Donald Kirk, “Could China invade South Korea after Taiwan?”, in The Hill, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2022:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The wealthy criminal broke the law with ____, knowing he would not be punished.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In some unstable countries, powerful criminals often seem to act with total ____ from the law.