1
: a state of confinement or captivity
2
: a place of confinement especially for lawbreakers
specifically
: an institution (such as one under state jurisdiction) for confinement of persons convicted of serious crimes compare jail
Examples of prison in a Sentence
Noun
The state plans to build two more prisons.
He was in prison at the time.
If caught, they're all going to prison.
She was sent to prison for robbery.
He was released from prison.
He's scheduled to get out of prison next month.
Her marriage became a prison to her.
Recent Examples on the Web
Yamiche Alcindor, NBC news, 10 Oct. 2025
Trump announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of the deal, in which all remaining hostages -- alive and dead -- will be released from Gaza in exchange for an as-yet undetermined number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.
—David Brennan, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2025
But the impact of the immigration law remains largely unknown because Alabama prisons don’t collect ethnicity data and therefore don’t know how many inmates are Hispanic.
—Amy Yurkanin, ProPublica, 9 Oct. 2025
The prosecution sought an 11-year sentence; however, Diddy was sentenced to 50 months in prison last week, which his team is appealing, plus a $500,000 fine.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for prison
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Noun
Barghouti has spent more than 20 years in prison and is serving five life sentences after his 2004 conviction for the murder of four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
—Yamiche Alcindor, NBC news, 10 Oct. 2025
Trump announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of the deal, in which all remaining hostages -- alive and dead -- will be released from Gaza in exchange for an as-yet undetermined number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons.
—David Brennan, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2025
But the impact of the immigration law remains largely unknown because Alabama prisons don’t collect ethnicity data and therefore don’t know how many inmates are Hispanic.
—Amy Yurkanin, ProPublica, 9 Oct. 2025
The prosecution sought an 11-year sentence; however, Diddy was sentenced to 50 months in prison last week, which his team is appealing, plus a $500,000 fine.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for prison
Cite this Entry
“Prison.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prison. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
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