prison
Americannoun
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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
- postprison adjective
- prisonlike adjective
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
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.
Though he takes a minute to upbraid her, they’re obviously the show’s binary system, and Decker is in any case a cheery sort who takes things in stride — even prison, seemingly.
From Los Angeles Times
They show others - whose faces are redacted - in the hot tub and pool area and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator who is currently serving prison time.
From BBC
After finishing the conversation, Harris, still struck by the insight of the prison doctor, asked a warden how long the man had worked in the prison.
From Los Angeles Times
Shojinaga faces up to seven years in state prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
From Los Angeles Times
Salzburg was out of the picture, and as far as I could tell, we’d avoided a lifetime in prison.
From Literature
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.
