dungeon
Americannoun
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dungeons
plural
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a strong, dark prison or cell, usually underground, as in a medieval castle.
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the keep or stronghold of a castle; donjon.
noun
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a close prison cell, often underground
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a variant of donjon
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of dungeon
1250–1300; Middle English dungeo ( u ) n, dongeoun, dungun < Middle French donjon < Vulgar Latin *domniōn- (stem of *domniō ) keep, mastery, syncopated variant of *dominiōn- dominion
Explanation
That dank, stone-walled underground prison where wretched prisoners were kept manacled in medieval days? That was a dungeon, otherwise known as the "keep," and most familiar to us today from a million video games and movies. In fact, the original meaning of dungeon was of something overground rather than underground, coming from the Old French term donjon, meaning the "great tower of a castle," and the underground meaning only came later. Rapunzel in the fairy tale was held captive in a tower rather than an underground cell and if she hadn't been, her long hair wouldn't have been much help in her escape.
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:
The narrator is paranoid, weepy and violent, overwhelmed by visions of his own death, and the bass sounds as if it’s descending to a windowless dungeon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
In response, the leader of Arioka orders Kanbei be thrown in the castle’s impeccably dingy dungeon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
The show is part travelogue, part adventure quest with monsters, magic battles and dungeon exploration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025
The dungeon is full of weird, pulsing, half-sentient creatures — more slime than steak.
From Salon ● May 12, 2025
“He’s taking us to a dungeon, right? That human beings use? The passages would have to be clear. Regular people can’t use magic to get through underwater tunnels.”
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
She also prayed in a 17th Century chapel that was positioned directly above the dungeons.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
It’s weird to be alive at a time when much of contemporary warfare comprises literal laser beams, flying robots and dungeons full of nerds at computer terminals, but that’s really what’s happening.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2026
Long-running series like The Legend of Zelda tout the Hyrule kingdom’s mysteries, rife with dim dungeons and vast wetlands observed from mountaintops.
From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2024
Harris descended into the dungeons of the facility, toured the cells where enslaved people were kept and walked through the so-called door of no return, choking back tears, her hand over her mouth.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 28, 2023
They walked down the stairs to the dungeons and then into Snape’s office.
From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
