incarcerate

Sayin-KAR-suh-raytUS/ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/UK/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/

Formsincarcerates, incarcerating, incarcerated

3 meanings of incarcerate

1
verbUStransitive
To lock someone away; to imprison them, especially for breaking the law.
Federal prosecutors moved to incarcerate the executives convicted of fraud.
Many states incarcerate people for minor drug offenses.
Similarimprison, jail
Oppositerelease, free
Note
A Latinate verb built on carcer, Latin for "prison," by way of Medieval Latin incarcerātus; the verb is first recorded in 1575. Today it is chiefly American, and much of its work is done by the participle. A prisoner may speak out "even while incarcerated," and an institution can answer for its "incarcerated population." Imprison and jail are its plainer synonyms.
2
verbtransitive
To confine someone or something; to shut up or enclose; to hem in.
Thick fog incarcerated the fleet in the harbor for three days.
Steep canyon walls incarcerate the river along this stretch.
Similarconfine, trap, imprison, enclose
Oppositefree, release
3
adjectiveobsolete
Imprisoned or jailed; confined or shut in, whether in a prison or any enclosed place.
He remained incarcerate in the dungeon while his ransom was gathered.
Tane and incarcerat, kepit heir an there
1583, Preface to The Legend of the Bishop St Androis Lyfe
Note
The older shape of the participle, taken straight from Latin incarcerātus before English settled on incarcerated. As an adjective it dates from 1528, earlier than the prison verb. John Nisbet of Dirleton writes "the said Captain being incarcerate" in 1698, and texts of 1583 and 1707 spell it incarcerat. As a participle it is obsolete, and as an adjective it is archaic, so use it today only for deliberate period flavor.

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Origin

First attested as an adjective in 1528 and as a verb in 1575, it was borrowed from Medieval Latin incarcerātus, the past participle of incarcerō ("to imprison"), from Latin in- ("in") plus carcer ("a prison").