penal colony

noun

: a place where prisoners are sent to live

Examples of penal colony in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Levi emerged from his own penal colony with a tattoo on his forearm. — Literary Hub, 13 May 2026 Navalny’s lawyers represented him in the lead-up to his death at a remote penal colony in the Arctic Circle. — Irwin Cotler, Time, 8 May 2026 In May 1980, two Kharkiv air traffic controllers were sentenced to 15 years each in a penal colony. — Colin Millar, New York Times, 27 June 2026 The blogger, 42, was previously a vocal critic of Navalny, who died in an Arctic penal colony in early 2024. — Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 20 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for penal colony

Browse Nearby Words

penal code
penal colony
penal institution
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Penal colony.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penal%20colony. Accessed 9 Jul. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of tacit

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Commonly Misspelled Words

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List

One-Word Oxymorons: Bittersweet, Spendthrift, and More

Ten Words Ending with a Silent ‘T’

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
hangman letters and game
Hangman Lightning Round Figure out which word fits in the blanks.
See All