Punitive...

We're here at starbucks again and Niki is studying advanced english words.  She asked me for the definition of the word "punitive" and I told her it meant small, like "puny" (slang).  And then we looked it up and I found out I've been using/understanding the word incorrectly my whole life!  omg... and Niki and Ali were just commenting on how they were jealous of my good english.  So much for that!

So now before I define what the word actually means, I challenge my readers: do you really know what this word means?