incarcerate

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verb in·car·cer·ate \in-ˈkär-sə-ˌrāt\

Definition of incarcerate

incarcerated

;

incarcerating

transitive verb
1 : to put in prison
2 : to subject to confinement

incarceration

play \(ˌ)in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən\ noun

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Examples of incarcerate in a Sentence

the state incarcerated over 1900 people last year

Recent Examples of incarcerate from the Web

David Frodsham is now incarcerated at the state prison in Kingman.

— bob ortega, azcentral, "A horrifying journey through Arizona foster care, and why we don't know how many more children may be abused", 4 June 2017
The NY Legislature has recently signed the Bill 'Raise the Age' to keep individuals under 17 years old from being tried as adults, and to protect them once incarcerated.

— thr staff, The Hollywood Reporter, "Jay Z, Harvey Weinstein to Receive Inaugural Truthteller Award From L.A. Press Club", 2 June 2017
A waiver of child support for people who are incarcerated was one of the suggestions of the state task force that studied how to reduce Louisiana's incarceration rate.

— julia o'donoghue, NOLA.com, "Louisiana House passes bill to free prisoners from paying child support", 1 June 2017
Several dozen journalists have been incarcerated since last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey.

— the associated press, The Seattle Times, "Germany gains access to journalist detained in Turkey", 29 May 2017
With his father incarcerated in Alabama, barred from making business deals, Jared Kushner, the eldest son, took over the empire.

— michael kranish and jonathan o'connell, chicagotribune.com, "A high-stakes gamble: How Jared Kushner reacted to previous crises", 27 May 2017
With his father incarcerated in Alabama, barred from making business deals, Jared Kushner, the eldest son, took over the empire.

— michael kranish, Washington Post, "A high-stakes gamble: How Jared Kushner reacted to previous crises", 27 May 2017
When defendants complete the pretrial program successfully, judges decide not to incarcerate them about 70 percent of the time, according to the sheriff's office.

— michael dresser, baltimoresun.com, "St. Mary's pretrial supervision program earns praise as it cuts incarceration", 27 May 2017
Jockisch currently remains incarcerated at the Oakdale Federal Prison in Louisiana.

— prescotte stokes iii, AL.com, "Former Mobile County Commissioner appeal denied for 2014 conviction", 26 May 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'incarcerate'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

A criminal sentenced to incarceration may wish his or her debt to society could be canceled, but such a wistful felon might be surprised to learn that incarcerate and cancel are related. Incarcerate comes from incarcerare, a Latin verb meaning "to imprison." That Latin root comes from carcer, Latin for prison. Etymologists think that cancel probably got its start when the spelling of carcer was modified to cancer, which means "lattice" in Latin-an early meaning of cancel in English was "to mark (a passage) for deletion with lines crossed like a lattice." Aside from its literal meaning, incarcerate can also have a figurative application meaning "to subject to confinement," as in "people who are incarcerated in their obsessions."