incarceration

American  

[in-kahr-suh-ray-shuhn] / ɪnˌkɑr səˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

• incarcerations
  plural

1. the act of incarcerating, or putting in prison or another enclosure.

   The rate of incarceration has increased dramatically.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• incarcerations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of incarceration

First recorded in 1530–40; from French incarcération, from Latin incarcerātiōn-, stem of incarcerātiō, equivalent to incarcerāt(us), past participle of incarcerāre “to imprison” + -iō -ion ( def. ); see incarcerate ( def. )

Explanation

Incarceration is the state of being in prison. If you don't fancy incarceration, don't go through with that bank heist. The noun incarceration comes from the Latin word carcer, meaning "jail." There are many different types of incarceration. If you commit a crime and get locked up, that's one form of incarceration. Some people might feel that school is a form of incarceration. Some highly religious people think of the body as an incarceration of the spirit. A great synonym for this word is captivity.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

incarceration incarcerations

Derenoncourt has found that Black Americans who migrated north to growing cities in the 20th century achieved economic gains—but their descendants experienced increasing school segregation and incarceration rates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

At the time of her incarceration, Pike was the youngest person on death row, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

At the time of her incarceration, the 21-year-old was the youngest person on death row, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

And then making it harder to even fight when you are fighting to stay in the United States, or to at least avoid deportation to a country where you might face further incarceration.

From Slate ● Sep. 24, 2026

No mention was made of the War on Drugs or mass incarceration.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

He himself hadn’t known much about the incarcerations until he was studying at the Harvard Kennedy school in 1988, when President Reagan signed a historic law about reparations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 31, 2025

Another option would be to allow a plea of “not guilty by reason of dementia” or to enact sentencing limits similar to those protecting juveniles from lifelong incarcerations.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 17, 2023

The Turin daily La Stampa spearheaded the collection of 300,000 signatures against what it decried as “unjust incarcerations, torture, death sentences of those in Iran demonstrating peacefully to change their own country.”

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2023

Two “lifers,” locked up together indefinitely in Shawshank prison, form a bond that transcends decades of their lives and, ultimately, their own incarcerations in this heart-wrenching adaptation of a novella by Stephen King.

From New York Times ● Sep. 10, 2020

Of course there had been arrests and incarcerations, and the Intransigeant and the Rappel were filled with the echoes of the explosion.

From A Little Tour of France by Joseph Pennell

Related Words

• captivity
• confinement