punitive
PYOO-nih-tivadjMeaning meant as punishment
Memory hook PUNI-tive: meant to PUNISH. The librarian posts a sign: one late book, a five-hundred-dollar fine! A fine like that is not a reminder; it is punitive.
A five-hundred-dollar fine for one overdue library book would be punitive.
In context The coach insisted the extra laps were not punitive but practical: the team simply needed to get in better shape before the season.
Similar penalizing, disciplinary, harsh, corrective
Opposite rewarding, lenient, merciful
From Medieval Latin punitivus, from Latin punire, “to punish.”