jailbreak

1 of 2

noun

jail·​break ˈjāl-ˌbrāk 

: a forcible escape from jail

jailbreak

2 of 2

verb

jailbroke ˈjāl-ˌbrōk  ; jailbreaking; jailbreaks

transitive verb

: to remove built-in limitations from (an electronic device, such as a cell phone)

I'm not trying to be overly snarky here, but for … in-house app distribution, I see no need or advantage to jailbreaking an iOS device.

—John Welch

Last week we learned you can jailbreak every current model of Kindle.

—Thorin Klosowski

Apple makes it nearly impossible for the average user to download apps from anywhere else unless you jailbreak your phone.

—Peter Wells

Examples of jailbreak in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Cardinals figured out what the Bears were doing protection-wise and there were too many jailbreaks after that, especially when the Bears were trailing big in the fourth quarter. —Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune, 4 Nov. 2024

And while these models have stronger guardrails built in to prevent misuse, many people have found ways to ‘jailbreak’ them, effectively circumventing these guardrails. —Tharin Pillay, TIME, 5 Nov. 2024

Verb

Plus, most jailbreaks only work on outdated hardware and old versions of the firmware, Apple argues, because the vulnerabilities used to achieve jailbreaks get patched. —Lily Hay Newman, WIRED, 22 July 2020

This makes sure that the models can stand up to attempts to jailbreak them or manipulate them in other ways. —Janakiram Msv, Forbes, 13 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1910, in the meaning defined above

Verb

2007, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

jailbreak

noun

jail·​break -ˌbrāk 

: an escape from jail by use of force