cellmate

noun

cell·​mate ˈsel-ˌmāt 

variants or less commonly cell mate

plural cellmates also cell mates

: a person who shares a prison cell with another prisoner

When his cellmates learned that his bond had been set at $1 million (and bail at $500,000), they broke into laughter and shook their heads in disbelief.

—Richard Behar

Within a week, guards came by at night and told me to get ready. … I said goodbye to my cellmates and gathered my things …

—Clare Morgana Gillis

Examples of cellmate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Some condemned inmates still live in single cells in their new accommodations, but others have been assigned cellmates or live in dormlike settings. —Hannah Wiley, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2025

Watch Avengers: Age of Ultron on Disney+ Ant-Man After getting out of jail, petty thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) moves in with his former cellmate. —Jacqueline Weiss, People.com, 8 Mar. 2025

His revolutionary cellmate, Valentin, is played by Diego Luna. —Natalie Sitek, Deadline, 26 Jan. 2025

Hampton has just completed a long stint in solitary confinement, and his cellmate Rudy (Adam Beach) urges him to find a purpose or risk extending his now three-year-long sentence for check fraud once again. —Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1839, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cellmate

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate