prison
Americannoun
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a building for the confinement of persons held while awaiting trial, persons sentenced after conviction, etc.
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any place of confinement or involuntary restraint.
noun
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a public building used to house convicted criminals and accused persons remanded in custody and awaiting trial See also jail penitentiary reformatory
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any place of confinement or seeming confinement
Other Word Forms
- postprison adjective
- prisonlike adjective
Etymology
Origin of prison
before 1150; Middle English prison, earlier prisun < Old French, variant of preson imprisonment, a prison < Latin pre ( hē ) nsiōn- (stem of prehēnsiō ) a seizure, arrest, equivalent to prehēns ( us ) (past participle of prehendere to seize) + -iōn- -ion; doublet of prehension
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.
She will face up to five years in federal prison at her April 13 sentencing hearing.
From Los Angeles Times
Scenes of celebration at the prison gates included several prisoners with shaved heads who shouted "We are free!" as they exited, ending an anguished wait by their families.
From Barron's
He was captured after a brief chase and sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.
From Salon
The length of the prison term is underlined so passengers don’t overlook the point.
The episode echoed some of the same concerns that drew U.S. scrutiny in 2023, when prosecutors secured a plea deal with the world’s largest crypto exchange and a prison sentence for Zhao.
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.
