LOCKED (UP) Synonyms: 50 Similar and Opposite Words

locked (up)

verb

past tense of lock (up)

as in imprisoned

to put in or as if in prison if they catch you, they're going to lock you up and throw away the key!

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for locked (up)

Verb

The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group that wants fewer people behind bars, reports that white women were imprisoned at a rate of 41 per 100,000 in 2023, while white men were imprisoned at 341 per 100,000, more than eight times as high.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 16 Oct. 2026
The pity of the judge who imprisoned them here was cold comfort for a group of people who had little reason to trust any legal authority.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of imprisoned

Verb

Davis anti-transgender activist and school board candidate Beth Bourne was briefly jailed on trespassing charges Tuesday after her arrest outside a Sonoma high school, the Sonoma newspaper reported.

— Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2026
Individuals can now be fined as much as $5 billion rupiah ($280,000) and jailed up to 15 years.

— Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of jailed

Verb

Whiting also interned with the campaign of a Parliament candidate while studying abroad in London.

— Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026
Peyton Stewart was a 21-year-old international business major who grew up with her sister in Westwood, New Jersey, studied abroad in London and interned at TikTok.

— Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of interned

Verb

In her experience, the criminal justice system doesn’t do nearly enough to rehabilitate the incarcerated and address the underlying issues, often based in trauma, that lead people to commit crimes.

— Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 Oct. 2026
The campaign brings together Fox and Johnson’s boundary-pushing styles and supports Fox’s nonprofit Rosebuds Reading Collective for women who are incarcerated.

— Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of incarcerated

Verb

Not one confined to a single house, summit, or handful of world leaders.

— Halla Tómasdóttir, Time, 16 Oct. 2026
The district judge confined Biddy and most of the Black children in the county jail, ostensibly for their own protection from their unscrupulous enslaver.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of confined

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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locked out

locked (up)

locker

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“Locked (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/locked%20%28up%29. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of locked (up)

verb

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