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Just as English is full of nouns referring to places where prisoners are confined, from the familiar (jail and prison) to the obscure (calaboose and bridewell), so we have multiple verbs for the action of putting people behind bars. Some words can be used as both nouns and verbs, if in slightly different forms: one can be jailed in a jail, imprisoned in a prison, locked up in a lockup, or even jugged in a jug. Incarcerate does not have such a noun equivalent in English—incarceration refers to the state of confinement rather than a physical structure—but it comes ultimately from the Latin noun carcer, meaning “prison.” Incarcerate is also on the formal end of the spectrum when it comes to words related to the law and criminal justice, meaning you are more likely to read or hear about someone incarcerated in a penitentiary or detention center than in the pokey or hoosegow.
Examples of incarcerate in a Sentence
Bailey Richards, People.com, 23 Mar. 2025
Still, Naz, whose solitary ways confuse his family, very much wishes that Aziza wasn’t meeting his adamantine mother, Claudine (LaTanya Richardson Jackson), or his famous father, or his ex-state-senator older brother, Junior (Glenn Davis), recently incarcerated for embezzling campaign funds.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2025
By Sunday afternoon, President Bukele’s office had released video clips believed to be images of migrants being escorted off a plane and taken to a prison where incarcerated people are reportedly subjected to torture and beatings.
—Troy Aidan Sambajon, The Christian Science Monitor, 19 Mar. 2025
The former president of the Portland Trailblazers was incarcerated at age 16 after being charged with second-degree murder.
—Vitas Carosella, Forbes, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incarcerate
Cite this Entry
“Incarcerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarcerate. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
incarcerate
verb
Legal Definition
incarcerate
transitive verb
Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare, from in- in + carcer prison
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