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

Etymology

Origin of confinement

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confinement confinements

In solitary confinement, prisoners cannot mix and meals are delivered via a small opening in the cell door.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

The judge erred in finding there was a substantial chance Patterson would be held in solitary confinement for years to come, and this "infected" his decision, the prosecution argued.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

But as my confinement continued, even through my longing to be home, I felt an indisputable change that could only be tied to the lack of a smartphone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Prison staff reportedly separated the two men and Combs was placed in solitary confinement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

He had Daedalus, a great architect and inventor, construct a place of confinement for him from which escape was impossible.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Bursting through the confinements of movie logic, “It Ends” untrains audiences out of their certainty that every crisis has a solution.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

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

Pressed by animal welfare and consumer groups, many food and restaurant companies already have committed to phasing out small confinements for pigs and to buying or producing cage-free eggs.

From Reuters ● Oct. 10, 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

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

Related Words

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