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death row
noun
: a prison area housing inmates sentenced to death
—usually used with on
prisoners waiting on death row
Examples of death row in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
There are currently 63 people on death row in Louisiana, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, but legal challenges, political opposition and problems obtaining lethal injection drugs have kept the state from actually executing people for more than a decade.
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Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 11 Feb. 2025
Plus: Lawrence Wright on the bond between women on death row in Texas and an order of nuns, Kathryn Schulz on learning to love the spider, Burkhard Bilger on marching bands, Dhruv Khullar on interplanetary travel, Kelefa Sanneh on Mike White, and more.
—
The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
When the killer of my mother and two cousins was among the three men Biden left on federal death row, I was sentenced to continue my pain.
—
Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 7 Feb. 2025
Before leaving office, Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people, including commuting the death sentences of 37 federal death row inmates.
—
Kate Linderman, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2025
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Word History
First Known Use
1894, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near death row
Cite this Entry
“Death row.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/death%20row. Accessed 16 Feb. 2025.
Legal Definition
death row
noun
: a prison area housing inmates sentenced to death
death row
adjective
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