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

he was bored and frustrated by his incarceration in the quarantine

sentenced to six months of incarceration for dealing in narcotics

Recent Examples on the Web

The elders, in their 80s and beyond, were forced by the U.S. government to live in incarceration camps during World War II. —Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 June 2024

The government had recommended a sentence of 12 years and seven months’ incarceration. —Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 1 June 2024

First, administrators said a full divestment was off the table but agreed to expedite the UC Berkeley Foundation’s process for reviewing concerns regarding investments in weapons manufacturing, mass incarceration and surveillance industries. —Jason Green, The Mercury News, 14 May 2024

He had been medically cleared for incarceration but became unresponsive during fingerprinting about an hour later. —Chris Biderman, Sacramento Bee, 12 May 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