tolbooths

noun

plural of tolbooth, Scottish
as in jails
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody Deacon Brodie, thought to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was publicly hung at the site of the old tolbooth of Edinburgh

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tolbooths
  1. jails
  2. prisons
  3. penitentiaries
  4. big houses
Noun
  • Under the ordinance, all healthcare facilities will be required to allow the partners of a patient to visit, as will jails in the city’s jurisdiction.
    — Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2026
  • Pressure to address the conditions in the juvenile jails intensified this summer after a June 21 violent clash at Horizon in Mott Haven between the detainees and staff, in which 11 were stabbed and 15 hospitalized, according to a Council report.
    — Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of jails
Noun
  • There is no evidence that foreign countries intentionally emptied prisons or mental institutions and sent people to the United States.
    — Jack Harvel, Kansas City Star, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Final results could come as early as Thursday evening after about a half-million absentee ballots are counted from military personnel, diplomats, people in prisons and hospitals, and others.
    — Cara Anna, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026
Definition of prisons
Noun
  • Mexico has 276 prisons, including 14 federal penitentiaries and 249 state prisons.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Hodge says he was abused in multiple federal penitentiaries, but was frequently blocked from filing complaints about it.
    — Christie Thompson, NPR, 13 July 2026
Definition of penitentiaries
Noun
  • Boomers stayed in the workforce longer than expected, retired later, and held on to big houses as starter homes disappeared beneath them.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 9 June 2026
  • However, a lot of big houses have been built on smallish lots.
    — Richard Dahlberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Mar. 2026
Definition of big houses
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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tolbooth
tolbooths
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Cite this Entry

“Tolbooths.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tolbooths. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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