# prison

Pronunciation: say "PRIZ-uhn" /ˈpɹɪzn̩/

## Noun

1. A place where people are held as punishment for a crime or while awaiting trial, or the state of being held there.
   - Simple: A place where people are kept as punishment or while they wait for trial, or the state of being kept there.
   - _After the trial, he was sent to prison for armed robbery._
   - _The state opened a new maximum-security prison outside the city._
2. Any restrictive environment that feels confining, such as a harsh school or an oppressive home. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A place or situation that makes you feel trapped or unable to live freely.
   - _To a restless teenager, the quiet village was a prison._
   - _He came to see his comfortable life as a gilded prison._

## Verb

3. To confine someone within a prison and hold them captive. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To lock a person up and keep them in a jail.

## Origin

It came through Middle English "prisoun" from Old French "prison", which goes back to Latin "prehensiō" (accusative "prehensiōnem"), from the verb "prehendō". It is a doublet of "prehension".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/prison (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).