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Just as English is full of nouns referring to places where prisoners are confined, from the familiar (jail and prison) to the obscure (calaboose and bridewell), so we have multiple verbs for the action of putting people behind bars. Some words can be used as both nouns and verbs, if in slightly different forms: one can be jailed in a jail, imprisoned in a prison, locked up in a lockup, or even jugged in a jug. Incarcerate does not have such a noun equivalent in English—incarceration refers to the state of confinement rather than a physical structure—but it comes ultimately from the Latin noun carcer, meaning “prison.” Incarcerate is also on the formal end of the spectrum when it comes to words related to the law and criminal justice, meaning you are more likely to read or hear about someone incarcerated in a penitentiary or detention center than in the pokey or hoosegow.
Examples of incarcerate in a Sentence
Claudia Gonzalez, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026
The book is an ode to all the innocent people fighting to clear their names while incarcerated.
—Yosha Gunasekera, PEOPLE, 21 Jan. 2026
He’s been incarcerated since then at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago while the extortion case and a second case alleging fraud and tax evasion are pending against him.
—Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 21 Jan. 2026
The project, at a vacant Jacobi Hospital building in Morris Park, is slated to provide supportive and affordable housing, mostly for people who were formerly incarcerated and with serious medical issues.
—Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for incarcerate
Cite this Entry
“Incarcerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarcerate. Accessed 23 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
incarcerate
verb
Legal Definition
incarcerate
transitive verb
Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare, from in- in + carcer prison
