1
as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
the ongoing debate whether drug users should go to prison
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in captivity
the act of confining or the state of being confined
the view that prison does nothing to cure the criminal—if anything, it makes him worse
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of prison
People was sentenced to 111 years in prison for robbing banks in Indiana, and had already served more than two decades in prison.
—
Luke Garrett, NPR, 19 Jan. 2025
He was convicted of a drug offense in 1994 and served eight years in prison.
—Colleen Long, Chicago Tribune, 19 Jan. 2025
Oceanside police have arrested a suspect in a road-rage shooting death that occurred last weekend, announcing Friday that the suspect was a man who was paroled in 2019 after serving more than two decades in prison for a 1996 slaying.
—Alex Riggins, The Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2025
In 2019, Zeeb was sentenced to four years in prison in one of the country's largest cannabis cases.
—Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for prison 
Luke Garrett, NPR, 19 Jan. 2025
He was convicted of a drug offense in 1994 and served eight years in prison.
—Colleen Long, Chicago Tribune, 19 Jan. 2025
Oceanside police have arrested a suspect in a road-rage shooting death that occurred last weekend, announcing Friday that the suspect was a man who was paroled in 2019 after serving more than two decades in prison for a 1996 slaying.
—Alex Riggins, The Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2025
In 2019, Zeeb was sentenced to four years in prison in one of the country's largest cannabis cases.
—Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for prison
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prison
Noun
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Deterring criminal behavior With clear penalties, including fines and jail time, this legislation will serve as a deterrent to anyone contemplating unlawful occupancy of another person’s home.—
Ryan Nawrocki,
Baltimore Sun,
19 Jan. 2025
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When the pandemic came, the sisters were no longer allowed inside McHenry jail.—
Nell Salzman,
Chicago Tribune,
19 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Learn more about some of the best new discoveries: 4-foot-long predator, kept in captivity for over a decade, discovered as new species In Ethiopia, a 4-foot-long snake known as Broadley’s African house snake was identified as a new species after being kept in captivity for years.—
Stories by Real-Time news team, with AI summarization,
Miami Herald,
17 Jan. 2025
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The deal, expected to be implemented Sunday, would bring relief to nearly two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and allow for the return of dozens of hostages to Israel held in captivity since Hamas’s initial attack on Oct. 7, 2023.—
Sarah Fortinsky,
The Hill,
16 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Ultimately, Hazzard was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to perform hard labor at a state penitentiary in Walla Walla, Wash.—
Sean Neumann,
People.com,
5 Jan. 2025
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The staff at Lee penitentiary is 98% White, according to the bureau, and multiple people said that guards seemed to be especially hostile to Black prisoners — who make up 62% of the prison's population.—
Christie Thompson,
NPR,
18 Dec. 2024
Noun
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My Documents Kevin Nguyen Penguin Random House, April As another Trump administration kicks into gear, there may be no better, or scarier, work to consider than Kevin Nguyen’s second novel, which sees the U.S. government set up internment camps for Vietnamese Americans.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
4 Jan. 2025
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The cafe has been Asian-owned since it was founded in 1951 by a Japanese American couple, Paul and Kitty Kawakami, who had been confined to a U.S. internment camp out in California during World War II, even though they were born in the U.S., according to the Star archives.—
Joseph Hernandez,
Kansas City Star,
2 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Since the program's inception in 1996, less than 3 percent of RTA members have returned to prison—a sharp contrast to the roughly 40 percent that return to prison within three years—underscoring the potential of art in breaking cycles of incarceration.—
Daniel R. Depetris,
Newsweek,
10 Jan. 2025
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His research is focused on the effects of incarceration and looking at ways to preserve the dignity of those who, like himself, have been impacted by the criminal justice system.—
Shirsho Dasgupta,
Miami Herald,
10 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Some of those actions don’t fall under the CRA, including Biden’s sweeping order to grant clemency to nearly 1,500 Americans released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic.—
Alexander Bolton,
The Hill,
8 Jan. 2025
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Stewart donned the status symbol to her trial for lying during an insider-trading investigation, at which she was convicted and sentenced to a five-month stint in prison followed by home confinement.—
Anna Kaufman,
USA TODAY,
30 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near prison
Cite this Entry
“Prison.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prison. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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