incarceration
noun
in·car·cer·a·tion
(ˌ)in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən 
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
Robin SteinbergTo 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
George TakeiExamples of incarceration in a Sentence
he was bored and frustrated by his incarceration in the quarantine
sentenced to six months of incarceration for dealing in narcotics
Recent Examples on the Web
But in the invisibly sculpting hands of Swiss director Petra Volpe and the exquisite performances of two first-rate actors, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Rob Morgan, Frank & Louis is an uncommonly tender incarceration drama.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
The couple remains married, despite Braddy’s decades of incarceration.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2026
In interviews and presentations to the city council, Xiong, who is Hmong, has spoken openly about his experiences as a teen drug dealer, gang member and petty criminal and his subsequent incarceration, which ended a decade ago.
—Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 29 Jan. 2026
But in a zero-sum world, where more money spent on incarceration means less money available for California’s growing network of trauma recovery centers, that’s a bad bargain.
—Kathy Brown-Lowe, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for incarceration
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David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 30 Jan. 2026
The couple remains married, despite Braddy’s decades of incarceration.
—Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2026
In interviews and presentations to the city council, Xiong, who is Hmong, has spoken openly about his experiences as a teen drug dealer, gang member and petty criminal and his subsequent incarceration, which ended a decade ago.
—Frederick Melo, Twin Cities, 29 Jan. 2026
But in a zero-sum world, where more money spent on incarceration means less money available for California’s growing network of trauma recovery centers, that’s a bad bargain.
—Kathy Brown-Lowe, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for incarceration
Cite this Entry
“Incarceration.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarceration. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
incarceration
noun
in·car·cer·a·tion
in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən
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
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