Noun | 1. | ![]() social control - control exerted (actively or passively) by group action chastisement, castigation - verbal punishment corporal punishment - the infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime cruel and unusual punishment - punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed detention - a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home; "the detention of tardy pupils" discipline, correction - the act of punishing; "the offenders deserved the harsh discipline they received" economic strangulation - punishment of a group by cutting off commercial dealings with them; "the economic strangulation of the Jews by the Nazi Party" imprisonment - putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment self-punishment - punishment inflicted on yourself stick - threat of a penalty; "the policy so far is all stick and no carrot" self-abasement, self-mortification, penance - voluntary self-punishment in order to atone for some wrongdoing |