imprison
Americanverb (used with object)
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imprisons,
present (3rd person singular)
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imprisoned,
past participle, past
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imprisoning
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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imprisonernoun
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imprisonmentnoun
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reimprisonmentnoun
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reimprisonverb (used with object)
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imprisonableadjective
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unimprisonableadjective
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unimprisonedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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imprisonsimple
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imprisonssimple
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have imprisonedperfect
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has imprisonedperfect
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am imprisoningprogressive
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are imprisoningprogressive
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is imprisoningprogressive
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have been imprisoningperfect progressive
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has been imprisoningperfect progressive
Past
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imprisonedsimple
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had imprisonedperfect
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was imprisoningprogressive
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were imprisoningprogressive
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had been imprisoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of imprison
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English enprisonen, from Old French enprisoner, equivalent to en- en- 1 + prison prison + -er infinitive suffix
Explanation
To imprison is to hold someone in a prison or jail. It can also mean to confine them elsewhere. You might imprison a classmate in a locker, for example. Cops imprison suspects who can't make bail, and someone could be imprisoned for a long time if convicted of a serious crime. Government agencies like the CIA and FBI also imprison people. However, you don't need a prison to imprison someone: a kidnapper holding people captive in the basement has imprisoned them.
Vocabulary lists containing imprison
Schooled
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"The New Colossus"
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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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:
In the same exchange, Chopra took the conversation to a different level, writing: “Atoms galaxies mind body are hallucinations that imprison humanity. We have to get rid of 2000 years of human conditioning.”
From Salon ● May 19, 2026
I patiently explained that neither law clerks nor justices get to imprison people sua sponte.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2026
Mitsotakis, who notes the fraud began before he came to power in 2019, has vowed to imprison the "thieves" responsible and to reclaim the funds.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
In America, we don’t imprison people for violating rules that were never written.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
Back in Washington, Army Major General Halleck made plans to imprison the assassins when they were caught.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
The camera is almost always static; the frame is frozen in a way that virtually imprisons the characters, suggesting that their blinkered belief systems similarly constrain their thoughts and direct their deeds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026
Filmed in a boxy aspect ratio that visually imprisons her in her circumstances, the movie uses tracking shots as hints into its character’s mindset.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2025
Evasive and everywhere, the past imprisons Olivia as good old Gothic stories tend to wrap their tentacles around and ensnare us.
From Salon ● Jul. 16, 2022
Exiled back to Earth, Monkey and his armies battle the forces of Heaven successfully until the Buddha finally imprisons him under a mountain.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2021
Daddy imprisons himself in his room, but what else is new?
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
In a statement, Lithuania's Ministry of Justice said: "There have been no discussions or consultations regarding the possibility of accepting the transfer of all Lithuanian citizens imprisoned in the United Kingdom".
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
They have been imprisoned at the Baker County Detention Center and denied bail ever since.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
To be eligible, a person has to have been imprisoned as a result of a conviction that was later vacated by a court.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Family members say three of Lobga’s uncles perished during a defining Chinese crackdown on Tibet in 1959—when the young Dalai Lama fled to India—and other relatives were imprisoned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Second, that caused America to enter World War II. And third, more than 110,000 Nikkei—mostly American citizens—living on the West Coast had been imprisoned in ten different places, for no good reason.
From "A Place to Belong" by Cynthia Kadohata
Retired tech titans and social media luminaries can no more control the development of AI by banning it than the Catholic Church could undo the fact that Earth revolves around the sun by imprisoning Galileo.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2025
"Excuse me, that's incorrect. Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people," Hassan said.
From Salon ● May 20, 2025
Before imprisoning people, including noncitizens, the government is required under the Constitution to charge the defendants with a crime and to prove their guilt in a jury trial, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2025
A member of the audience at the Fabian Society event urged Lord Timpson to consider community sentences as a “direct alternative” to imprisoning offenders.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2024
The badger then upended the basket, imprisoning the maddened sparrow beneath it.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
