jail

American  

[jeyl] / dʒeɪl /

British, gaol

noun

• jails
  plural

1. a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.

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verb (used with object)

• jails,
  present (3rd person singular)
• jailed,
  past participle,  past
• jailing
  present participle

1. to take into or hold in lawful custody; imprison.

jail British  

/ dʒeɪl /

noun

1. a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted

2. informal to get out of a difficult situation

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verb

1. (tr) to confine in prison

Usage

What is a basic definition of jail? A jail is a building that houses prisoners and people accused of crimes, especially minor crimes. Jail also means to imprison for committing a crime or to lawfully detain a person. A jail is a building where criminals or people accused of crimes are housed. Jails are usually small buildings that keep prisoners only until they go to trial or for criminals with short punishments. Typically, a prisoner only spends around 90 days in a jail. A person accused of a more serious crime may be kept in a jail until their trial or until they are transferred to a larger facility. The phrase “in jail” often means a person is spending time in a jail. A person who manages a jail or puts a person in a jail is called a jailer.

• Real-life examples: In the United States, jails are usually managed at the local level, such as by a town or county. A person who commits a minor offense such as being drunk in public or trespassing may be sentenced to spend time in a county jail.
• Used in a sentence: After a wild night, the partygoers woke up the next morning in the city jail.

As a verb, jail means to imprison a person for a crime as allowed under the law. This sense specifically refers to legal imprisonment, usually by police officers, rather than by kidnapping or abduction.

• Real-life examples: If a person is arrested by police, they are usually jailed until they are taken to trial. Depending on the judge’s ruling, they may be jailed again as punishment for a crime.
• Used in a sentence: The police quickly jailed the men who were caught trying to steal a car.

Jail can easily be confused for prison, and the two are often used interchangeably when referring to lawful imprisonment in general. In the United States, a prison is managed by a state or the federal government and typically holds prisoners convicted of serious crimes who have very long sentences. Prisons are larger, usually better funded, and have much tighter security than jails. Prison can also be used more generally to refer to any place a person is confined, like a basement or in your own head. Jail is specifically a place for prisoners or people accused of crimes. Gaol is a variant spelling of jail used mostly in British English.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rejail
  verb (used with object)
• jail-like
  adjective
• jailable
  adjective
• jailless
  adjective
• jaillike
  adjective
• nonjailable
  adjective
• unjailed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• jails
  plural

Participles

• jailing
  present
• jailed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• jail
  simple
• jails
  simple
• have jailed
  perfect
• has jailed
  perfect
• am jailing
  progressive
• are jailing
  progressive
• is jailing
  progressive
• have been jailing
  perfect progressive
• has been jailing
  perfect progressive

Past

• jailed
  simple
• had jailed
  perfect
• was jailing
  progressive
• were jailing
  progressive
• had been jailing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will jail
  simple
• will have jailed
  perfect
• will be jailing
  progressive
• will have been jailing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of jail

1225–75; Middle English gaiole, jaiole, jaile < Old North French gaiole, Old French jaiole cage < Vulgar Latin *gaviola, variant of *caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea cage; see -ole ¹

Explanation

A jail is a place where people are confined while they're being punished for a crime. If you end up getting a mug shot and put behind bars, chances are you are In jail. To arrest someone and put them in a jail cell is to jail them. Jail prisoners are often simply waiting for their trials — they've been charged with a crime, but they haven't yet been found to be guilty (or innocent). Jail was originally spelled gayhol, and in Britain it's also spelled gaol. This can be traced back to the Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola and the Latin cavea, "cage or enclosure."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jail jails jailed jailing

In July he learned that any further attempt to challenge the Kremlin could land him in jail.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

In court, the prosecutor told the judge that a jail call revealed she is a flight risk because she talked about going to Israel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

They claimed she had missed jury duty, and threatened jail time unless she paid a fine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

That means the 59-year-old will be out of jail before any changes come into effect, but the prospect of automatic early release for people like him worries Katie deeply.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

“You, Count Olaf, will go to jail, and the three children will live with me.”

From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket

A government source told the BBC that renting foreign prison space would not help with the short-term crisis in jails.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

The number of places in jails in England and Wales has not kept pace with the significant rise in the prison population in recent decades under successive governments.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

The prison housed 4,100 inmates, about four times its capacity, an issue common across the country's jails.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

Meanwhile, thousands more are waiting in county jails for cases that are winding through a new, convoluted and confusing system where geography controls the rules.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

The jails were packed to capacity.1 Reporters and photographers captured in undeniable images the confrontation between the children and the police.

From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry

According to the memo, Randall gave birth to Jester while she was jailed on homicide charges.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

During that arrest, Beverly Hills officers learned she had removed her court-ordered GPS monitoring ankle bracelet, leading her to be jailed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

Last year the PKK announced plans to disband and disarm, following a call from its jailed founder and longtime leader Ocalan.

From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026

Sharif Ahmadzai has been jailed until his trial for Ross's death, which could be up to 18 months away.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Such rooms were usually reserved for gentlemen jailed for debt.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes

Despite Sheriff McGinty stating the seriousness of Neil's crimes passing the threshold for custody, he decided against jailing him to due his "advanced years", lack of previous convictions and low risk of re-offending.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, is on trial for incitement over social media posts following her father's jailing in July 2021 which sparked unrest that claimed more than 350 lives.

From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026

It costs the taxpayer more than £52,000 per prisoner every year, so supporters of the government's position say there's a clear money-saving win through not jailing them in the first place.

From BBC ● Nov. 25, 2025

Following Sansal's jailing, French officials arrested Algerian influencers in France on "terror" propaganda charges, and there were tit-for-tat expulsions of officials working in both countries.

From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025

By not jailing her, the judge left her no way to appeal.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

Related Words

• confine
• detain
• hold
• imprison
• lock up
• sentence
• take away