jail

American  

[jeyl] / dʒeɪl /

British, gaol

noun

1. a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.

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verb (used with object)

1. to take into or hold in lawful custody; imprison.

jail British  

/ dʒeɪl /

noun

1. a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted

2. informal to get out of a difficult situation

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verb

1. (tr) to confine in prison

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.

As a verb, jail means to imprison a person for a crime as allowed under the law. This sense specifically refers to legal imprisonment, usually by police officers, rather than by kidnapping or abduction.

• 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.

Jail can easily be confused for prison, and the two are often used interchangeably when referring to lawful imprisonment in general. In the United States, a prison is managed by a state or the federal government and typically holds prisoners convicted of serious crimes who have very long sentences. Prisons are larger, usually better funded, and have much tighter security than jails. Prison can also be used more generally to refer to any place a person is confined, like a basement or in your own head. Jail is specifically a place for prisoners or people accused of crimes. Gaol is a variant spelling of jail used mostly in British English.

Other Word Forms

• jail-like adjective
• jailable adjective
• jailless adjective
• jaillike adjective
• nonjailable adjective
• rejail verb (used with object)
• unjailed adjective

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; -ole ¹

Example Sentences

But the limited options available to the judge at a sentencing hearing on Thursday, after a trial of facts, do not include a jail term, nor a driving ban.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

Prosecutors want Abalos to serve 24 years in jail.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

Eventually, that reality caught up to county prosecutors, who released Gonzalez after she spent two days in jail.

From Slate • Apr. 6, 2026

Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay a poll tax, objecting to slavery and the Mexican War.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

He agreed that there were times when a person seeking justice might need to take action that could land him in jail.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• confine
• detain
• hold
• imprison
• lock up
• sentence
• take away