as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
told harrowing stories of his years spent in the big house
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for big house
Noun
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Key Venezuelan opposition figure Juan Pablo Guanipa was arrested by heavily armed men on Sunday night, his supporters said, just hours after he had been released from a jail where he was held as a political prisoner.—
Diego Mendoza,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026 -
His co-defendants received jail terms between 6¼ years and 10 years.—
Kanis Leung,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Author Ta-Nehisi Coates, an 8-year-old in West Baltimore at the time of the murder, offers piercing commentary on the impact of both the initial crime and the succeeding one, the grievously unjust trial that put three kids in the penitentiary.—
Sheri Linden,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Jan. 2026
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Central Time Wednesday following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Given his age, the prison term still could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.—
Kanis Leung,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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Hong Kong — Former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, ending a years-long legal battle that has come to define Beijing’s transformational crackdown on the once-freewheeling financial hub.—
Chris Lau,
CNN Money,
9 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Big house.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/big%20house. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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