imprisonment
Americannoun
-
imprisonments
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of imprisonment
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Old French emprisonnement, equivalent to imprison ( def. ) + -ment ( def. )
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:
Her lawyers repeated a call for Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute Pike's sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
On Friday, Judge Adam Hiddleston sentenced Khadikhel to nine-and-a-half years' imprisonment, Miakhel to nine years' imprisonment and Mohammed to six-and-a-half years' imprisonment.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
The initial complaint, filed in May 2025, also included false imprisonment and conversion as causes of action, which are not included in the latest complaint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
The state imprisonment rate in 2019 was the lowest it had been since 1988, and it had shrunk by 20% since 2007.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
By 2010, Florida had sentenced more than a hundred children to life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide offenses, several of whom were thirteen years old at the time of the crime.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
After this, there will be a lot of going back and forth across the Channel; crimes of the aristocracy; Darnay’s own Big Secret revealed; more trials, more imprisonments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
He reunited with his wife in the final months of his life, as he suffered from ill-health caused by his imprisonments.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2024
“It’s disturbing, it’s terrifying, and it’s a major violation of protected speech,” Freedom House’s Nate Schenkkan said of the recent imprisonments of Western-based Saudis.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 1, 2022
Even a recent number of arrests and imprisonments for defaming the president do not appear to have dented Mr. Hichilema’s popularity.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2022
Both of us were spared, in body at least, by the stone walls of our different imprisonments, and altered in spirit, in ways we’re struggling to understand.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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