imprison
Americanverb (used with object)
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imprisons,
present (3rd person singular)
-
imprisoned,
past participle, past
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imprisoning
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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imprisonernoun
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imprisonmentnoun
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reimprisonmentnoun
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reimprisonverb (used with object)
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imprisonableadjective
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unimprisonableadjective
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unimprisonedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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imprisonsimple
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imprisonssimple
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have imprisonedperfect
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has imprisonedperfect
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am imprisoningprogressive
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are imprisoningprogressive
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is imprisoningprogressive
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have been imprisoningperfect progressive
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has been imprisoningperfect progressive
Past
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imprisonedsimple
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had imprisonedperfect
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was imprisoningprogressive
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were imprisoningprogressive
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had been imprisoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of imprison
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English enprisonen, from Old French enprisoner, equivalent to en- en- 1 + prison prison + -er infinitive suffix
Explanation
To imprison is to hold someone in a prison or jail. It can also mean to confine them elsewhere. You might imprison a classmate in a locker, for example. Cops imprison suspects who can't make bail, and someone could be imprisoned for a long time if convicted of a serious crime. Government agencies like the CIA and FBI also imprison people. However, you don't need a prison to imprison someone: a kidnapper holding people captive in the basement has imprisoned them.
Vocabulary lists containing imprison
Schooled
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"The New Colossus"
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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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:
I patiently explained that neither law clerks nor justices get to imprison people sua sponte.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2026
Mitsotakis, who notes the fraud began before he came to power in 2019, has vowed to imprison the "thieves" responsible and to reclaim the funds.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
“It’s despicable to imprison a person for exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” McBroom said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026
In America, we don’t imprison people for violating rules that were never written.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
It was too risky to imprison Booth anywhere on land.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
The camera is almost always static; the frame is frozen in a way that virtually imprisons the characters, suggesting that their blinkered belief systems similarly constrain their thoughts and direct their deeds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
Here is the real thing, where video liberates rather than imprisons all-enveloping music.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2022
The cemetery is an oasis of peace amid the traffic that imprisons the Ostiense area.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2022
Last night he suggested in his usual oleaginous way that mean people on Twitter are worse than a dictator who poisons and imprisons his political adversaries.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2022
Banning not only confines one physically, it imprisons one’s spirit.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
There is not a word about those arrested, executed or imprisoned in the gulag, the Soviet Union's vast network of prison labour camps.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
A Home Office spokesman said Abdela was the 20th small boat pilot to be imprisoned in four months for endangering lives at sea.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
His forebear Moses Montefiore was a British philanthropist who in 1840 helped secure the release of imprisoned Damascene Jews accused of blood libel—the false claim that Jews used Christian blood to bake matzo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Not everyone we spoke to remained forever imprisoned by their so-called fans.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
After all, as Chucha herself would say, what good is it to escape captivity only to be imprisoned in your own misery?
From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez
Metallica’s always been more existential than topical, but haven’t we all scrolled our feeds recently and muttered - “Darkness imprisoning me / All that I see, absolute horror.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
The demonstration was a protest against the policy of internment – imprisoning people without trial – which had been put in place following three years of violence.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2025
Retired tech titans and social media luminaries can no more control the development of AI by banning it than the Catholic Church could undo the fact that Earth revolves around the sun by imprisoning Galileo.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2025
"Excuse me, that's incorrect. Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people," Hassan said.
From Salon ● May 20, 2025
Now, there are no laws against imprisoning apostrophes and making them look daft.
From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author
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.
