jail
noun
a prison, especially one for the detention of persons awaiting trial or convicted of minor offenses.
jail-like
-
a word derived from
jail.
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.
Sheehan pointed to the city of Los Angeles’ no sleeping zones, encampment cleanups monitored by police and interim housing he characterized as jail-like.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025
When they reached Panama, Gurpreet said he and about 150 others were detained by border officials in a cramped jail-like centre.
From BBC ● Mar. 8, 2025
When that site is full, an older facility with enclosed, jail-like cells processes families several blocks away.
From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2019
In suburban Washington, D.C., the resettlement agency had contracted with the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center to house migrant children in a secure, jail-like setting.
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2018
Mai and Willow Chance both fixated on the jail-like front panel of the beige plastic crate, where they saw an extremely large orange cat.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
