jail
Americannoun
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jails
plural
verb (used with object)
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jails,
present (3rd person singular)
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jailed,
past participle, past
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jailing
present participle
noun
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a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted
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informal to get out of a difficult situation
verb
Usage
What is a basic definition of jail? A jail is a building that houses prisoners and people accused of crimes, especially minor crimes. Jail also means to imprison for committing a crime or to lawfully detain a person. A jail is a building where criminals or people accused of crimes are housed. Jails are usually small buildings that keep prisoners only until they go to trial or for criminals with short punishments. Typically, a prisoner only spends around 90 days in a jail. A person accused of a more serious crime may be kept in a jail until their trial or until they are transferred to a larger facility. The phrase “in jail” often means a person is spending time in a jail. A person who manages a jail or puts a person in a jail is called a jailer.
- Real-life examples: In the United States, jails are usually managed at the local level, such as by a town or county. A person who commits a minor offense such as being drunk in public or trespassing may be sentenced to spend time in a county jail.
- Used in a sentence: After a wild night, the partygoers woke up the next morning in the city jail.
- Real-life examples: If a person is arrested by police, they are usually jailed until they are taken to trial. Depending on the judge’s ruling, they may be jailed again as punishment for a crime.
- Used in a sentence: The police quickly jailed the men who were caught trying to steal a car.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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rejailverb (used with object)
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jail-likeadjective
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jailableadjective
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jaillessadjective
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jaillikeadjective
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nonjailableadjective
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unjailedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jailsimple
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jailssimple
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have jailedperfect
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has jailedperfect
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am jailingprogressive
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are jailingprogressive
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is jailingprogressive
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have been jailingperfect progressive
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has been jailingperfect progressive
Past
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jailedsimple
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had jailedperfect
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was jailingprogressive
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were jailingprogressive
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had been jailingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jail
1225–75; Middle English gaiole, jaiole, jaile < Old North French gaiole, Old French jaiole cage < Vulgar Latin *gaviola, variant of *caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea cage; see -ole 1
Explanation
A jail is a place where people are confined while they're being punished for a crime. If you end up getting a mug shot and put behind bars, chances are you are In jail. To arrest someone and put them in a jail cell is to jail them. Jail prisoners are often simply waiting for their trials — they've been charged with a crime, but they haven't yet been found to be guilty (or innocent). Jail was originally spelled gayhol, and in Britain it's also spelled gaol. This can be traced back to the Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola and the Latin cavea, "cage or enclosure."
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:
Several of the Operation Portaledge cases which have come to court resulted in lengthy jail sentences.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
An immigration officer charged in an on-duty Minneapolis shooting has been held in a Texas jail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, face a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail after being convicted under the China-introduced law.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
For property giant Evergrande, the face of China's real estate woes, an excruciating saga that has dragged on for years culminated on Thursday with court rulings ordering fines and jail terms.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
“The website hasn’t been updated recently. She’s not in jail anymore.”
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government is planning to release thousands of prisoners early this October, as it scrambles to free up space in jails almost at 100% capacity.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
He said the plan would be based on removing more foreign national offenders from prisons, releasing some offenders on indefinite sentences, and using space in women's jails for male inmates.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The prison housed 4,100 inmates, about four times its capacity, an issue common across the country's jails.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
Meanwhile, about 25% of the homeless population is dealing with mental illness, and many of them tumble repeatedly through jails, hospitals and courts at great expense without positive outcomes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
The only image I had for jails was from westerns at the movies, and this one was nothing like that.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Hayden-Johnson was 35 when she was jailed for three years and three months by a judge at Exeter Crown Court in 2010.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered authorities on Tuesday to move jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to hospital for medical checks, after the popular politician's lawyers complained about his poor health.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be moved to hospital for medical checks, after a petition by his lawyers over claims of poor health.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
According to the memo, Randall gave birth to Jester while she was jailed on homicide charges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
His speech, which defended a jailed socialist, did not please his high school principal, but he graduated near the top of his class.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Despite his jailing, Khan remains a significant presence in Pakistani politics with a large number of supporters.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in 2024 that Canberra was "gravely concerned" about the jailing of Ng and other Hong Kong activists.
From Barron's ● Feb. 23, 2026
Aside from jailing the coxswains, Hong Kong courts previously handed prison sentences to two government ship inspectors who failed to ensure lifejacket compliance.
From Barron's ● Jan. 21, 2026
ICE held her incommunicado for 24 hours and then shuffled her through three states before jailing her in Louisiana.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2025
Lafayette’s reputation in the black community was raised another notch when he went to court to fight his arrest and jailing on a false charge of vagrancy.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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.
