confinement
Americannoun
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the act of confining or the state of being confined
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the period from the onset of labour to the birth of a child
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physics another name for containment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonconfinementnoun
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postconfinementnoun
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preconfinementnoun
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self-confinementnoun
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semiconfinementnoun
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of confinement
Explanation
If you're dealing with confinement to a jail cell, or your classroom, or the broom closet, you're stuck there and you can't leave. Confinement means you're being held and you can't move freely. Confinement doesn't have to be punishment. If you've got a contagious disease, your doctor may recommend confinement to your hospital room. Puppies sometimes prefer confinement in a crate to sleeping in an open room. You may also come across an old-fashioned use of the word confinement, referring to a woman in childbirth, which goes back to when women retired to their rooms to give birth and recuperate. Confinement contains the Latin root finis, "end, limit” — confinement certainly is limiting.
Vocabulary lists containing confinement
Vocabulary from "Community is the 'killer app' missing from virtual reality" by Dmitri Williams
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"The Bet" by Anton Chekhov
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Farewell to Manzanar
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
After NBC News shed light on Combs’ alleged prison privileges, the rapper was reportedly moved back to solitary confinement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has reportedly been placed in solitary confinement following allegations in an NBC News report of his lavish federal prison lifestyle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
"By simulating quark confinement and string-breaking phenomena in a controlled lab environment, we're opening up new pathways for experimental investigations into the behavior of matter at its most fundamental level."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
For Clara Schumann, 34 years old and pregnant with her seventh child, her husband’s confinement had an unexpected benefit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Though he would miss Bill, Fleur, Luna, and Dean, not to mention the home comforts they had enjoyed over the last few weeks, Harry was looking forward to escaping the confinement of Shell Cottage.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
He added the trust had recruited 75 nurses and healthcare support workers since the report was written, improved training, communication with deaf patients and reduced daytime confinements.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2024
"We have just had two years of pandemic with confinements which put our activity to a halt ... now tourists are returning and new booksellers are settling in."
From Reuters ● Aug. 19, 2022
Given the typically short confinements in the juvenile system, they added, how could that have any greater effect?
From Washington Post ● Feb. 22, 2022
After reviewing videos and interviewing workers and youths, board staff found that most of the confinements did violate regulations, Ganter said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2021
In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the fields, what have you ever had except your bare rations and a stall?
From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
