prison

Pluralprisons

Formsprisons, prisoning, prisoned

1. 1
   jailnouncountable or uncountable

   A place where people are held as punishment for a crime or while awaiting trial, or the state of being held there.

   After the trial, he was sent to prison for armed robbery.

   The state opened a new maximum-security prison outside the city.

   UsageNo article when you mean being held: in prison, sent to prison. Use a or the for the building: visit the prison.

   Note

   In American usage the word leans toward long-term confinement after conviction, so a prison is usually set apart from a jail, where people await trial or serve short sentences.

2. 2
   trapping placenouncolloquialfigurativelycountable or uncountable

   Any restrictive environment that feels confining, such as a harsh school or an oppressive home.

   To a restless teenager, the quiet village was a prison.

   He came to see his comfortable life as a gilded prison.

   UsageOften feel like a prison, or a prison of your own making for a trap you made yourself.

   Similarcage, trap

3. 3
   lock upverbarchaictransitive

   To confine someone within a prison and hold them captive.

   Similarimprison, jail, incarcerate, confine, detain

   Oppositefree, release, liberate

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