Lockdown
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The confinement of people in their own rooms (e.g., in a school) or cells (in a prison), or to their own homes or areas (e.g., in the case of a city- or nation-wide issue) as a security measure after or amid a disturbance or as a non-pharmaceutical intervention in a pandemic. countable, uncountable
"At the time of writing, no decisions had been made by the Government as to when or how lockdown restrictions might begin to be lifted. However, discussions were taking place in the industry about how social distancing could be maintained on the railway if some patronage were to return soon."
- 2 the act of confining prisoners to their cells (usually to regain control during a riot) wordnet
- 3 A contrivance to fasten logs together in rafting. US, countable, uncountable
"The rafts were made up of strings of logs about seventeen feet wide, held together by poles across them. Each log was pinned to the poles by wooden pegs and lockdowns."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples""Mary, who would have thought it would be 2021 and the entire United States is on carbohydrate lockdown by the Chinese authorities," said Tom. "When we were just married, Tom, I never told you about my secret dowry. This can of beans," said Mary."
Etymology
Deverbal from lock down.
Related phrases
More for "lockdown"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.