Phrase guide

on pain of

prep · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɒn ˈpeɪn əv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ɑn ˈpeɪn əv/

1

prep

Meaning 1

Used to warn of consequences if a specified act is done or not done: subject to the punishment of (some penalty); or (generally) subject to the circumstance of (some thing).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: under pain of, upon pain of

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From on + pain (“suffering inflicted as punishment or penalty”) + of; compare French sous peine de.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: op straffe van — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of
  • Finnish: uhalla — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of
  • French: sous peine de — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of
  • German: bei — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of
  • German: unter Androhung von — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of
  • Polish: pod karą — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of
  • Spanish: so pena de — subject to the punishment or (generally) circumstance of