Synonyms of imprison

imprison

verb

im-ˈpri-zᵊn 

as in to jail

to put in or as if in prison

in this society, we try to imprison criminals so that they can't do any more harm

Synonyms & Similar Words

• jail
• incarcerate
• detain
• confine
• intern
• restrain
• commit
• arrest
• lock (up)
• immure
• restrict
• catch
• capture
• shut
• apprehend
• constrain
• limit
• seize
• jug
• gate
• impress
• bind
• keep
• bar
• hold
• impound
• nab
• pinch
• enchain
• handcuff
• shackle
• bust
• fetter
• pick up
• manacle
• shanghai
• trammel

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• liberate
• free
• release
• discharge
• emancipate
• enfranchise
• unchain
• unbind
• manumit
• unfetter
• uncage

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of imprison

Pike, who was 18 at the time of the murder, has been imprisoned for more than 30 years and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. — Violet Jira, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2026

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan’s main political rival, has been imprisoned since March of last year and is on trial on corruption charges. — ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026

The state has charged as much as $347 per day, meaning anyone who was imprisoned for a year in Connecticut racked up a tab of nearly $127,000. — Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 28 Sep. 2026

Handal was later arrested in Turkey on a Haitian Interpol Red Notice and spent months imprisoned there. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 28 Sep. 2026