cruel and unusual punishment

1. 1.

   punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed

   Broaderpunishment

Questions about cruel and unusual punishment

What does cruel and unusual punishment mean?

cruel and unusual punishment means "punishment prohibited by the 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution; includes torture or degradation or punishment too severe for the crime committed".

Is cruel and unusual punishment a common word?

cruel and unusual punishment is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.