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:
"Their dedication helps ensure young offenders are punished as appropriate while being supported into rehabilitation, and we will deliver on our commitment to give children in prison more time outside their room," a spokesperson said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
There is not a word about those arrested, executed or imprisoned in the gulag, the Soviet Union's vast network of prison labour camps.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Year: 2022 Compiled by: Shirin Ali Of note: Santos would later be expelled from Congress, sentenced to prison, and pardoned by President Donald Trump.
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026
His lawyer arranged an audio call with Kashani, who is jailed in Isfahan but in another prison, to recite religious marriage vows before he died, with their fathers both giving permission.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
All three braced themselves as Merriweather slowly pulled the shrieking genie back into its prison, the Magic Mirror.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
In Saudi prisons, inmates on death row typically lose access to personal mobile devices, with formal calls strictly facilitated through prison authorities.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The news outlet also reviewed footage obtained from inside the correctional facility which showed Combs using a phone, a prohibited item across state and federal prisons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Hundreds of criminals are being released early from prisons in England and Wales under new rules introduced to prevent facilities reaching capacity.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
On Wednesday, the prisons ministry said it would report on the findings of its preliminary investigation to parliament next week.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
If you didn’t stop the epidemic in the prisons, he said, any lasting accomplishments with the outside population would be questionable.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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.
