impunity

English

Etymology

From Latin impunitas, from impunis without punishment.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /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 undressed 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

exemption from punishment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不受懲罰性 (cmn), 不受惩罚性 (cmn) (bú shòu chéngfá xìng)

• Faroese: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: koskemattomuus (fi)
• French: impunité (fr) f
• German: Straflosigkeit (de) n
• Hungarian: büntetlenség (hu)
• Japanese: 刑事免責 (ja) (けいじめんせき, keiji menseki)

• Macedonian: неказнетост (mk) (nekáznetost) f
• Russian: освобождение от наказания (osvoboždénije ot nakazánija) n, импьюнити (ru) (impʹjúniti) n (indeclinable, neologism)
• Scottish Gaelic: saorsa o pheanas (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian: nekažnjenost (sh) f, nekažnjivost (sh) f
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: impunidad (es) f

freedom from punishment or retribution; security from any reprisal or injurious consequences of an action, behaviour etc.

• Finnish: rankaisemattomuus (fi)
• French: impunité (fr) f
• Macedonian: неказнивост (mk) (nekáznivost) f

• Russian: безнаказанность (ru) (beznakázannostʹ) f