Imprison

//ɪmˈpɹɪzən// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will. transitive

    "One of the village's most notable sons was Thomas Grantham, a Baptist church leader born in 1634, who was persecuted and imprisoned in the struggle for nonconformist beliefs during the reign of Charles II."

  2. 2
    lock up or confine, in or as in a jail wordnet
  3. 3
    confine as if in a prison wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
gaolgaolimmureincarceratejaillock up

Example

More examples

"Tyrannical governments frequently imprison their political opponents."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner. Equivalent to im- + prison.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.