confinement

[kuh n-fahyn-muh nt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR confinement ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the act of confining.

the state of being confined.

the lying-in of a woman in childbed; accouchement; childbirth.

Military. incarceration in a guardhouse or prison while awaiting trial or as a punishment (distinguished from arrest).

Nearby words

Origin of confinement

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

Related forms

non·con·fine·ment, nounpost·con·fine·ment, nounpre·con·fine·ment, nounself-con·fine·ment, noun

sem·i·con·fine·ment, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for confinement

By late Jan. 2003, Tenet had signed the first formal guidelines for interrogation and confinement.
Inside the CIA’s Sadistic Dungeon|Tim Mak|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Despite the confinement, those early years were often idyllic.
An Author at Home in Lonely Landscapes|Letitia Trent|July 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Army court-martialed him, sentencing him to 30 days' confinement and a dishonorable discharge.
We Lost Soldiers in the Hunt for Bergdahl, a Guy Who Walked Off in the Dead of Night|Nathan Bradley Bethea|June 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The requirement for you to submit to confinement is reinforced by accepting the first bag of peanuts.
The New Fear of Flying After MH370|Clive Irving|March 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

After a period of confinement, Sitting Bull was assigned to the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota in 1883.
Sitting Bull's Cinco De Mayo|David Frum|May 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He beguiled the tedious hours of confinement by study, relieving his mind by varying its objects.
The Life of Hugo Grotius|Charles Butler
They repaired on board ships, they descended into dungeons where their husbands, children or friends were in confinement.
Reminiscences of the Military Life and Sufferings of Col. Timothy Bigelow, Commander of the Fifteenth Regiment of the Massachusetts Line in the Continental Army, during the War of the Revolution|Charles Hersey
Condorcet wrote the best tract on the subject, while in confinement at a widow's house near Paris, before his execution.
Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers|Henry Rowe Schoolcraft
He also says, that the Raja was carried to Kathmandu, where he died after some confinement.
An Account of The Kingdom of Nepal|Fancis Buchanan Hamilton
While thus engaged, a man, dressed in the uniform of a rebel officer, was brought in for confinement in the barracks.
Daring and Suffering:|William Pittenger

British Dictionary definitions for confinement

confinement

noun

the act of confining or the state of being confined

the period from the onset of labour to the birth of a child

physics another name for containment (def. 3)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for confinement

confinement

1590s, from French confinement (16c.; the Old French word was confinacion), from confiner (see confine). As a euphemism for "childbed" it dates from 1774 (the Middle English expression was Our Lady's bands).

Medicine definitions for confinement

confinement

[kən-fīn′mənt]

n.

The act of restricting or the state of being restricted in movement.

Lying-in.

confinement

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of confinement

Examples from the Web for confinement

confinement

noun

confinement

confinement

n.