jailbreak

1 of 2

noun

jail·​break ˈjāl-ˌbrāk 

: a forcible escape from jail

jailbreak

2 of 2

verb

jailbroke ˈjāl-ˌbrōk  ; jailbreaking; jailbreaks

transitive verb

: to remove built-in limitations from (an electronic device, such as a cell phone)

I'm not trying to be overly snarky here, but for … in-house app distribution, I see no need or advantage to jailbreaking an iOS device.

—John Welch

Last week we learned you can jailbreak every current model of Kindle.

—Thorin Klosowski

Apple makes it nearly impossible for the average user to download apps from anywhere else unless you jailbreak your phone.

—Peter Wells

Examples of jailbreak in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Some of the most dangerous failures in AI don't show up as spectacular jailbreaks. —Sandeep Shilawat, Forbes.com, 15 May 2026

Three of the 10 inmates who escaped were apprehended in New Orleans within the first 24 hours of the jailbreak. —Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 30 Apr. 2026

Verb

Previous jailbreaks this year have spurred policy debates and raised questions on jail oversight and maintenance, with repercussions for public safety and criminal justice administration statewide. —Hollie Silverman, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Dec. 2025

Crucially, this ability to jailbreak with adversarial poems isn’t just a gap in one particular software’s armor. —James Folta, Literary Hub, 21 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1910, in the meaning defined above

Verb

2007, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for jailbreak

• awake
• backache
• beefsteak
• betake
• cheesecake
• cupcake
• daybreak
• earthquake
• forsake
• gouache
• handshake
• headache

Kids Definition

jailbreak

noun

jail·​break -ˌbrāk 

: an escape from jail by use of force