prepunish

English

Etymology

pre- +‎ punish

Verb

prepunish (third-person singular simple present prepunishes, present participle prepunishing, simple past and past participle prepunished)

1. (transitive) To punish in advance.
   • 2003, John Ray, William Ray, Mac OS X Maximum Security, page 256:

     Too many administrators place limits on their users not because of any increase in security that those limits provide, but out of some twisted desire to prepunish users for potential transgressions, in the hope that this will cow them into more quiescent obedience to the rules.