Synonyms of jails

jails 1 of 2

noun

plural of jail

as in prisons

a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody

sentenced to three years in jail for his crime

Synonyms & Similar Words

• prisons
• penitentiaries
• brigs
• lockups
• stockades
• pens
• coops
• coolers
• cages
• big houses
• jugs
• dungeons
• bastilles
• tanks
• hocks
• guardrooms
• joints
• cells
• jailhouses
• cans
• clinks
• slammers
• pokeys
• nicks
• tolbooths
• quods
• bridewells
• stirs
• hoosegows
• slams
• calabooses
• wards
• holes
• holds
• hulks
• gulags
• guardhouses
• reformatories
• bull pens
• prison camps
• concentration camps
• labor camps
• work camps
• glasshouses
• keeps
• blocks
• reform schools
• training schools
• oubliettes
• stalags

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• outsides

jails

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of jail

as in imprisons

to put in or as if in prison

threatened to jail the punks if they so much as jaywalked

Synonyms & Similar Words

• imprisons
• interns
• incarcerates
• confines
• arrests
• detains
• commits
• locks (up)
• restrains
• gates
• jugs
• immures
• bars
• catches
• limits
• captures
• shuts
• apprehends
• restricts
• constrains
• impounds
• seizes
• binds
• keeps
• shackles
• holds
• pinches
• fetters
• busts
• impresses
• handcuffs
• enchains
• nabs
• picks up
• manacles
• shanghais
• trammels

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• discharges
• releases
• liberates
• frees
• enfranchises
• emancipates
• unchains
• unbinds
• unfetters
• uncages
• manumits

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of jails

Noun

In fact, a number of those heading into a sentencing hearing are coming from surrounding county jails that have been holding them for many months. — Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026

The crimes homeless people will get charged for are not the ones that will keep them in the county’s already overcrowded jails, Lefkowitz said. — Laura Horne, Charlotte Observer, 17 Aug. 2026

The Gloves have not been widely used by police departments, according to the New York Times, but some have been deployed by county law enforcement and jails in the United States. — Jennifer Borresen, USA Today, 13 Aug. 2026

They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments. — CBS News, 12 Aug. 2026

The gloves have been used by some jails and police departments. — Luke Barr, ABC News, 12 Aug. 2026

Liliia Prutian, a medic in Ukraine’s armed forces, spent more than two years in Russian jails. — Joshua Yaffa, New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2026

Unlike prisons, jails are designed for short-term detention rather than prolonged confinement. — Jillian Turanovic, The Conversation, 10 Aug. 2026

Capping things off, New York has also prohibited localities from entering into contracts to allow ICE to use their jails as part of its inhumane national detention system. — New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 5 Aug. 2026

Verb

The facility is one of 11 Kentucky jails that contract with ICE to detain people. — Monroe Trombly, Louisville Courier Journal, 24 Feb. 2026

China, which jails human rights activists in Hong Kong, persecutes Uyghurs, has killed hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and has committed genocide against the Falun Gong, is on the UN Human Rights Council. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026

The regime that jails children also profits from drugs, human trafficking, and online scams. — Kim Aris, Time, 7 Nov. 2025