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

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

Meanwhile, thousands more are waiting in county jails for cases that are winding through a new, convoluted and confusing system where geography controls the rules. — Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026

He was transferred to the maximum-security prison after previously being housed in jails closer to where his trial was scheduled to take place in Boise. — Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 30 July 2026

Three former Artsakh presidents and several other high-level officials were arrested and remain in Azerbaijani jails. — Literary Hub, 30 July 2026

In the wake of the killings, UMWA leaders Fred Mooney and Frank Keeney called off plans to send large numbers of organizers into Mingo county to be arrested and overwhelm the county jails out of fear that their men might be killed as well. — Elijah Tanall, Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 July 2026

Since 2000, at least 17 people have died in Canadian immigration detention custody, most in provincial jails, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch. — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 29 July 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