Punishment in a few words (8)
I believe the answer is:
sentence
I believe this is a double definition.
'punishment' is the first definition.
(eg a prison sentence)
'a few words' is the second definition.
(a sentence is made up of words)
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for sentence that I've seen before include "Bird, possibly" , "That which ends with a full stop" , "Term of imprisonment" , "time passed" , "Judicial penalty" .)