imprison
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɹɪzən/
- Rhymes: -ɪzən
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Verb
imprison (third-person singular simple present imprisons, present participle imprisoning, simple past and past participle imprisoned)
- (transitive) To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.
- 1985 December 21, Mara Math, “Fen (review)”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 23, page 15:
- None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.
- 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 87:
- [...] demand for the boots fell sharply after the Battle of Waterloo, and Brunel was imprisoned for debt in 1821.
Usage notes
The term to imprison implies a sentencing has taken place when used to describe actions taken by a legal system, whereas to jail may imply a temporary holding before a trial, conviction, and sentencing.
Synonyms
- bang up
- gaol, jail
- lock up
- put away
- immure
- (British, colloquial) send to the Tower
- See also Thesaurus:imprison
Derived terms
Translations
put in prison
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Anagrams
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