Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

work-release

American  
[wurk-ri-lees] / ˈwɜrk rɪˌlis /

adjective

  1. of or relating to a program under which prisoners may work outside of prison while serving their sentences.


Etymology

Origin of work-release

First recorded in 1955–60

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:

Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in jail, mostly served on a work-release program that allowed him to leave jail daily.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 16, 2026

In 2008, he agreed to an exceedingly lenient plea deal with federal prosecutors that resulted in a 13-month prison sentence, with freedom granted 12 hours a day, six days a week, under a work-release program.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 20, 2025

More than 800,000 prisoners have some kind of job, from serving food inside facilities to working outside for private companies, including work-release assignments everywhere from KFC to Tyson Foods poultry plants.

From Seattle Times May 16, 2024

More than 800,000 prisoners have some kind of job, from serving food inside facilities to working outside for private companies, including work-release assignments everywhere from Burger King to Tyson Foods poultry plants.

From Seattle Times May 16, 2024

The guy’s friends had called the police, who arrested the Iceman and ran a check on him, which revealed that the Iceman had walked from a work-release program eighteen months earlier.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training