incarceration

noun

in·​car·​cer·​a·​tion (ˌ)in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən 

plural incarcerations

: confinement in a jail or prison : the act of imprisoning someone or the state of being imprisoned

Despite the drop in crime in past decades, rates of arrest and incarceration in New York City have not gone down.

—Robin Steinberg

To this day, the Supreme Court has not overruled its infamous Korematsu opinion of 1944, which validated our mass incarceration in deference to national security.

—George Takei

Synonyms

• captivity
• confinement
• immurement
• impoundment
• imprisonment
• internment
• prison

Examples of incarceration in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

No one predicted Trump would be forced to serve an incarceration sentence before his appeal ran out. —Bart Jansen, USA TODAY, 26 Apr. 2024

Towns lived on the same block prior to his incarceration, per his online booking records and absentee 2020 voting enrollment as collected in The South Georgia Times. —Emily Palmer, Peoplemag, 24 Apr. 2024

In Indiana, court revenue from fines and fees was $67 million in 1988, before growing to $242 million in 2008 due to the rise of mass incarceration, and then finally dropping to $137 million in 2022, the last year available. —Isabelle Kause, The Indianapolis Star, 22 Apr. 2024

In the 1970s, leaders at the Japanese American Citizens League, one of the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights organizations, felt the prospect of reparations for their wartime incarceration was out of reach. —Amy Qin, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024

In Los Angeles County, the program has led to the release of more than 100 prisoners, representing 685 fewer years of total potential incarceration, according to Garcia. —Mackenzie Mays, Los Angeles Times, 18 Apr. 2024

Rossman pleaded guilty in September 2022 to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced in December 2022 to 36 months’ probation with a condition of intermittent incarceration and a $2,000 fine. —Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 17 Apr. 2024

His incarceration experience during COVID seem to have taught him a very important lesson about time. —C. Isaiah Smalls Ii, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024

Each of the counts against Trump carries a maximum sentence of four years incarceration. —Graham Kates, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1540, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

incarceration

noun

in·​car·​cer·​a·​tion in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən 

1

: a confining or state of being confined

2

: abnormal retention or confinement of a body part

specifically : a constriction of the neck of a hernial sac so that the hernial contents become irreducible