confinement

American  

[kuhn-fahyn-muhnt] / kənˈfaɪn mənt /

noun

• confinements
  plural

1. the act of confining.

2. the state of being 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 (distinguished from arrest).

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confinement British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• confinements
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of confinement

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

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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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confinement confinements

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

Prolonged confinement can lead animals to pacing, destructive behavior, anxiety, and make it harder to adopt them out, which ultimately could lead to them being euthanized by shelters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 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

What had to be endured was the climate, the confinement, the steady crumbling away of family life.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

Armani took away the restrictions and confinements of stiffer styles that went before him - making men feel sophisticated and women empowered in the workplace.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2025

And Rikers is not a normal jail — a place of brief confinements pending trials and sentencings.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 3, 2023

He told reporters confinements and other consequences of surging infection numbers were worrying, but "should not lead to an increase in inflation, on the contrary".

From Reuters ● Dec. 20, 2021

A loan reserved for exhibits at several museums may get caught in confinements, making it tricky to deliver the promised artwork, he said.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 26, 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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Related Words

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

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