jail

American  

[jeyl] / dʒeɪl /

British, gaol

noun

jails plural

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)

jails, present (3rd person singular) jailed, past participle, past jailing present participle

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

Derived Forms

• jail-like
  adjective
• jailable
  adjective
• jailless
  adjective
• jaillike
  adjective
• nonjailable
  adjective
• unjailed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• jails
  plural

Participles

• jailing
  present
• jailed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• jail
  simple
• jails
  simple
• have jailed
  perfect
• has jailed
  perfect
• am jailing
  progressive
• are jailing
  progressive
• is jailing
  progressive
• have been jailing
  perfect progressive
• has been jailing
  perfect progressive

Past

• jailed
  simple
• had jailed
  perfect
• was jailing
  progressive
• were jailing
  progressive
• had been jailing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will jail
  simple
• will have jailed
  perfect
• will be jailing
  progressive
• will have been jailing
  perfect progressive

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

Cleavotta Morgan said her son, Daejon Morgan, called her every day from his cell at Men’s Central Jail.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2026

Simi Valley police confirmed that both suspects were booked into the Ventura County Jail.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026

The local Hobart-Lawrence Police Department in Wisconsin said they attended a disturbance complaint on Saturday morning and on Tuesday the 28-year-old was taken to Brown County Jail.

From BBC • May 27, 2026

White said conditions at Men’s Central Jail are “disgusting” and it needed to close immediately.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026

Bernabe had arrested Joe Mondragon a dozen times, and had personally driven him down to the Chamisa County Jail twice.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Related Words

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