1
as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
the ongoing debate whether drug users should go to prison
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in captivity
the act of confining or the state of being confined
the view that prison does nothing to cure the criminal—if anything, it makes him worse
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of prison
Janice Nix, 67, of South London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after she was convicted of killing her 5-year-old stepdaughter in June 1978 by forcing the girl into a scalding-hot bath as a punishment.
—
Arkansas Online,
21 June 2026
The Florida prison system is awful.
—
Gerard S. Williams,
Sun Sentinel,
21 June 2026
The more time, the greater the risk of turning eighteen and getting transferred to an adult prison.
—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
20 June 2026
During a hearing in Dade County, Florida, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
20 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for prison
Arkansas Online,
21 June 2026
The Florida prison system is awful.
—
Gerard S. Williams,
Sun Sentinel,
21 June 2026
The more time, the greater the risk of turning eighteen and getting transferred to an adult prison.
—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
20 June 2026
During a hearing in Dade County, Florida, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
20 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for prison
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prison
Noun
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To get there, Sodais climbed mountains in the snow, moved from border to border with the help of smugglers, got captured a dozen times and spent time in jail.
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Ábalos, who spent seven months in jail before his trial in April, is accused of taking kickbacks from the purchase of $60 million-worth of facemasks during the Covid pandemic.
Noun
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Today, 160 servicemembers were released from captivity.
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Among those abducted were a mother and her 6-year-old son, who were released Thursday after nearly three months in captivity.
Noun
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Two years ago, a judge freed Anthony Bailey after 27 years in the federal penitentiary, giving him a second chance at life.
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After a federal jury voted to convict him in early 2024, Hernández was sent to a notorious high-security penitentiary in West Virginia to serve his time.
Noun
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During the special, Klepper travels to a peaceful nude bike rally against ICE internment camps holding people without due process.
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In California, language related to the internment of Japanese Americans at the Manzanar National Historic Site, as well as the history of Indigenous people in Death Valley and Muir Woods came under scrutiny.
Noun
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Glenn Middleton is facing a maximum of 20 years in prison, plus a minimum of five years imprisonment consecutive if found guilty of other charges.
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Those causes carried timeless moral weight that outlasted Gandhi’s assassination and Mandela’s nearly three decades of imprisonment.
Noun
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In the movie Invictus, Nelson Mandela refers to the poem by the same name as something that sustained him during his 27 years of incarceration.
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Layne’s group has pushed county leaders to fund a continuous drug addiction treatment program, expanding access for those who need it both during and after incarceration.
Noun
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The poor conditions inside detention centers and the prolonged confinement often compel detainees to give up their quest for a court hearing and opt to leave the country of their own accord.
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Understanding fusion fuel One of the hub’s basic goals is to refine the understanding of inertial confinement fusion (ICF).
Cite this Entry
“Prison.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prison. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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