Definition of "capital punishment" [capital punishment]

• The penalty of death for the commission of a crime. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "These two authorities, as well as Sir William Blackstone, refer to the favourable results which followed the abolition of capital punishment in Russia by the Empress Elizabeth and the continuance of the same policy by her successor, Catherine III."
• "Voltaire, in his commentaries on the treatise of Beccaria, emphasizes his opposition to capital punishment by saying,"
• "Dr. Thacher, who witnessed the proceedings, wrote, “It is most painful to reflect that circumstances should imperiously demand the infliction of capital punishment on soldiers who have more than a shadow of plea to extenuate their crime.”"