1
: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
specifically
: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (such as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes compare prison
2
: confinement in a jail
sentenced to jail
Examples of jail in a Sentence
Noun
He was locked up in the county jail.
He was arrested and sent to jail.
He went to jail for his crimes.
He just got out of jail a few weeks ago.
He was kept in jail overnight.
Verb
threatened to jail the punks if they so much as jaywalked
Recent Examples on the Web
Arkansas Online, 11 Oct. 2025
Watkins was previously attacked at the jail in August 2023 by three other prisoners, an incident that left him with neck injuries which required hospital treatment.
—Nick Reilly, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2025
Justin Sherman, The Atlantic, 11 Oct. 2025
Orwell was thinking about a society where people who spoke out were jailed, potentially executed and were kind of disappeared.
—Pamela Avila, USA Today, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for jail
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Noun
Martha attacked Willie with a whiskey bottle, which landed her in jail, though police did not arrest Willie that night.
—Arkansas Online, 11 Oct. 2025
Watkins was previously attacked at the jail in August 2023 by three other prisoners, an incident that left him with neck injuries which required hospital treatment.
—Nick Reilly, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2025
Verb
The state can fairly easily police the requirement that Max be installed on new phones by threatening phone companies that don’t comply or even jailing their executives.
—Justin Sherman, The Atlantic, 11 Oct. 2025
Orwell was thinking about a society where people who spoke out were jailed, potentially executed and were kind of disappeared.
—Pamela Avila, USA Today, 10 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for jail
Cite this Entry
“Jail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jail. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
jail
noun
: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
specifically
: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes compare house of correction, house of detention, lockup, penitentiary, prison
jail
transitive verb
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