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
At that point, it felt like a dungeon, the inner rooms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 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
We beat the dungeon mere seconds before Lorren’s mom ordered her to get off the game or she’d shut off the electricity in the whole house.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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
Mr Hamaguchi says the developers want the open world to work as "one single space" with "all of the towns, all of the dungeons and everything linked together seamlessly in one space".
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2023
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
Now the pixelated, expressionless faces of characters in the original have been replaced with detailed, lifelike mugs; the drab backgrounds of city streets and dungeons have become rich with color and texture.
From New York Times ● Dec. 6, 2022
He therefore approached the final lesson of the afternoon —- double Potions — feeling considerably more cheerful than he usually did when descending the steps to the dungeons.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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