imprisonment
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of imprisonment
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Old French emprisonnement, equivalent to imprison ( def. ) + -ment ( def. )
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.
Imprisonment for one’s beliefs is a common thread in biographies of change-makers ranging from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to dissident-turned-president Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic.
From Washington Post • Apr. 5, 2023
He has created a series of four pieces he calls The Story of My Imprisonment.
From BBC • Aug. 28, 2022
“Black Imprisonment Rate in the US Has Fallen by a Third since 2006.”
From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022
“He did nothing wrong,” Mr. Signorelli said, noting that a claim against the state that Mr. Williams filed under the Unjust Conviction and Imprisonment Act was dismissed this year.
From New York Times • May 5, 2022
Imprisonment, they say, now creates far more crime than it prevents, by ripping apart fragile social networks, destroying families, and creating a permanent class of unemployables.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
