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.
-
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:
District Judge Fernando M. Olgui sentenced 40-year-old Michael Meiser to 67 months in federal prison Thursday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
A court in the Chinese territory Macau sentenced on Friday ex-lawmaker and democracy campaigner Au Kam San to 12 years and six months in prison for subversion and other offences.
From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026
The Soviet Red Army arrested him in 1945, and Puyi spent the next 14 years of his life in prison, first in the Soviet Union and then in the newly founded People’s Republic of China.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he plans to commute death sentences for 548 people facing execution by the state, allowing them to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Elliot tossed me an Alcatraz prison uniform, and I glanced up at him, eyebrow raised.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
“The scheme under investigation revolved around contracts worth approximately 2.45 billion pesos with the agency responsible for federal prisons, funds earmarked for the security of the country’s prison system.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
While the investigation is going on, the incident has sparked a conversation on overcrowding in Indian prisons.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
It certainly keeps advisers, lawyers, doctors, therapists, courts and prisons in business.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
He has promised to resolve Brazil's crime woes, create 500,000 more spots in prisons and slash government spending.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
Farmer reminded Goldfarb of their mutual objective, to get as much money as possible for the prisons, and not to get defensive about personalities.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
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