confinement

[kuhn-fahyn-muhnt]

noun

1. the act of confining.

2. the state of being confined. confined.

3. the lying-in of a woman in childbed; accouchement; childbirth.

4. Military.,  incarceration in a guardhouse or prison while awaiting trial or as a punishment (arrest ).

confinement

/ kənˈfaɪnmənt /

noun

1. the act of confining or the state of being confined

2. the period from the onset of labour to the birth of a child

3. physics another name for containment

Other Word Forms

• nonconfinement noun
• postconfinement noun
• preconfinement noun
• self-confinement noun
• semiconfinement noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of confinement¹

1640–50; confine + -ment; compare French confinement

Example Sentences

Many victims have told The Times that they suffered egregious abuse decades ago at the hands of probation staff, who they said would molest them and threaten them with solitary confinement if they told higher-ups.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In addition to the four-month prison term, Lira was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, four months of home confinement and two years of court-supervised release.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Ms Mdluli tried to allay the fears by saying the deportees were being held in solitary confinement in a secure facility.

Read more on BBC

It is the birthplace of “rehabilitative” solitary confinement and for more than a century, held some of America’s most notorious criminals.

Read more on Salon

“Everyone receives soap, nobody is locked in cells all day, no one, in retaliation, is put in solitary confinement,” she said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• custody 
• detention 
• incarceration 
• internment 
• jail 
• repression