incarceration

noun

in·​car·​cer·​a·​tion (ˌ)in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən How to pronounce incarceration (audio)
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

Examples of incarceration in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Many would be liberated months later, including Ward-Thomas, who — having written golf match reports for the camp paper during his incarceration — returned to England determined to pursue a career in sports journalism. Jack Bantock, CNN, 9 Mar. 2024 The statute allows people between the ages of 18 and 25 convicted of certain crimes to seek parole at their 15th, 20th and 25th years of incarceration, except for people sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the age of 18. Calmatters, The Mercury News, 5 Mar. 2024 While Champion-Cain’s sentence is technically 15 years of incarceration, her current release date, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, is Jan. 9, 2033, which amounts to a nearly 12-year prison term. Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Mar. 2024 The proceeding to undo 17 years of wrongful incarceration took less than five minutes. Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024 Defense attorneys are presenting more information about the BOP as a mitigating factor to a term of incarceration, and some judges are listening. Walter Pavlo, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 The sanctions also target individuals responsible for Navalny's incarceration. Jackie Northam, NPR, 23 Feb. 2024 During his incarceration, Cahill had 116 disciplinary infractions and was deemed maximum- and highest-custody risk numerous times, according to records. Madeline Nguyen, The Arizona Republic, 23 Feb. 2024 People in rural areas struggling with substance use, evictions, past incarceration and unemployment come to cities like Raleigh for the help that's only available there. Claire Thornton, USA TODAY, 19 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'incarceration.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1540, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of incarceration was circa 1540

Dictionary Entries Near incarceration

Cite this Entry

“Incarceration.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarceration. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

incarceration

noun
in·​car·​cer·​a·​tion in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən How to pronounce incarceration (audio)
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

More from Merriam-Webster on incarceration

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