prison
Americannoun
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prisons
plural
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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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
Explanation
A prison is a place where criminals and people waiting for trials are locked up. If you’ve been cooped up in the house, you might feel like you’re stuck inside prison walls. But if you’re not, go outside already. A person who's been sentenced to time in prison is called a prisoner. Prisons vary, but usually prisoners are confined to a small cell, with time spent in large groups for eating, working, and exercise. If you feel like you're stuck in a place or a situation, you might call that prison: "I can't wait to go home — this summer camp is like a prison!" The Latin root is prension, "laying hold of."
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:
Antrim GAA footballer Kavan Keenan, who was driving the van in October 2024, was recently handed a nine month suspended prison sentence and a 12 month driving ban.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
“But when prosecutors put an offer on the table that transforms a potential decades-long prison sentence into a significantly reduced charge and probation, there was simply no way he could reasonably turn it down.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced Harvey Weinstein to 15 years in prison, marking the latest chapter in the tangled legal saga of the disgraced Hollywood mogul.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
She was out of prison during Israel's 12-day war in 2025.
From Barron's
“Clothing over here!” a smiling prison trustee told me.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Some prisons hold more than 1,000 inmates - like large Victorian jails.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Sophie Bishener, leaseholder and campaigner with the End our Cladding Scandal group, said that flats with unsafe cladding left unremediated were like "prisons", and this is having a "devastating" impact on people's lives.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
The Federal Communications Commission said it is working on a final rule that would let state prisons block cellular signals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
When the prisons close, the guards transfer to new locations or retire and leave the rural, geographically isolated area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to make sure they do not escape their various prisons.
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
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.
