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
Relevance
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of prison
Lazzaro argued in court the mall victim was the aggressor and had taunted Hernandez over his history as a government informant, saying his reputation as a snitch would put him in grave danger back in prison.
—
Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
Kimble, who is currently free on a $250,000 bond, is required to report to prison on March 20.
—Kellie Love, Hartford Courant, 7 Jan. 2026
At another point, Bauers enters a hospital only to be arrested and sent to prison for not having a barcode tattoo to pay for treatment.
—Literary Hub, 7 Jan. 2026
He was later transferred to the prison in Americus.
—David Aaro, AJC.com, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for prison
Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
Kimble, who is currently free on a $250,000 bond, is required to report to prison on March 20.
—Kellie Love, Hartford Courant, 7 Jan. 2026
At another point, Bauers enters a hospital only to be arrested and sent to prison for not having a barcode tattoo to pay for treatment.
—Literary Hub, 7 Jan. 2026
He was later transferred to the prison in Americus.
—David Aaro, AJC.com, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for prison
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prison
Noun
-
According to county jail records, Sutherland was arrested shortly after midnight Monday morning, with bail set at $50,000.—
City News Service,
Daily News,
14 Jan. 2026
-
Arechiga did not enter a plea at his arraignment Monday in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana.—
City News Service,
Oc Register,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
After Liat Beinin Atzili and her husband Aviv were abducted by Hamas on October 7, Liat’s father Yehuda embarks on an uncertain mission to secure his daughter’s release while resisting pressure to use her captivity to justify escalating violence in Gaza.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Sharabi told Fox News Digital about his life after captivity.—
Rachel Wolf , Ronn Blitzer,
FOXNews.com,
20 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Price’s decision in December to play for women incarcerated in a Tennessee penitentiary underlines her feminist bond with royalty such as Loretta Lynn and June Carter Cash.—
Bob Gendron,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Jan. 2026
-
But he was most likely transferred there to help publicize the new penitentiary, nicknamed The Rock.—
Don Sweeney,
Sacbee.com,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Through a mix of fiction and nonfiction, Questions 27 & 28 introduces us to three generations of characters who were all impacted by FDR’s internment, a novelistic investigation of a shameful American chapter.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
6 Jan. 2026
-
In wartime Los Angeles, with Pearl Harbor still fresh in people's minds, and 120,000 Japanese Americans banished to internment camps, paranoia ran deep.—
David Alvarado,
Time,
15 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Violating the law − for both the largecarnivore and wolf-dog cross acts − are misdemeanors and punishable by monetary fines and imprisonment, for instance.—
Nushrat Rahman,
Freep.com,
12 Jan. 2026
-
Instead, after being caught at sea, refugees are taken back to Libya where, between 2017 and 2022, more than 100,000 men, women and children have been locked up, essentially for being there illegally — albeit without any official charges or trials to contest their imprisonment.—
Simon Hughes,
New York Times,
12 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Trump has also repeatedly lashed out over the state’s incarceration of Tina Peters, the former county clerk convicted of state felonies related to her attempts to prove discredited election conspiracies shared by the president.—
Nick Coltrain,
Denver Post,
9 Jan. 2026
-
Boardman imposed a sentence of 97 months, citing Roske’s mental health and concerns about incarceration conditions and his status as a first-time criminal offender.—
Kaelan Deese,
The Washington Examiner,
8 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Because confinement of the plasma in a stellarator is driven solely by the external magnets, modifying the shape and strength of the fields has a major impact on performance.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Jan. 2026
-
DaSilva was determined to be the primary trafficker and sentenced to a year of home confinement, and a fine of $10,000.—
Joe Rubin,
Sacbee.com,
13 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Prison.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prison. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
