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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
Tracy Slater
july 10, Literary Hub, 10 July 2025
Montague was arrested on June 30 in an apartment building associated with a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting individuals re-entering society after being incarcerated.
—Andrew Stanton
amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 July 2025
Milo is incarcerated at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
—Jessie Milo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 2025
The star, Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, is currently incarcerated at Federal Medical Center Fort Worth, serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for trying to hire two different men to kill the other star, Carole Baskin.
—CBS News, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for incarcerate
Cite this Entry
“Incarcerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarcerate. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
incarcerate
verb
Legal Definition
incarcerate
transitive verb
Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare, from in- in + carcer prison
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