Did you know?
Just as English is full of nouns referring to places where prisoners are confined, from the familiar (jail and prison) to the obscure (calaboose and bridewell), so we have multiple verbs for the action of putting people behind bars. Some words can be used as both nouns and verbs, if in slightly different forms: one can be jailed in a jail, imprisoned in a prison, locked up in a lockup, or even jugged in a jug. Incarcerate does not have such a noun equivalent in English—incarceration refers to the state of confinement rather than a physical structure—but it comes ultimately from the Latin noun carcer, meaning “prison.” Incarcerate is also on the formal end of the spectrum when it comes to words related to the law and criminal justice, meaning you are more likely to read or hear about someone incarcerated in a penitentiary or detention center than in the pokey or hoosegow.
Synonyms
Examples of incarcerate in a Sentence
Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 10 Jan. 2025
He will not be barred from voting, as Florida—where Trump now resides—defers on that to the state law where the felon was convicted, and New York allows felons to vote as long as they’re not incarcerated.
—Alison Durkee, Forbes, 10 Jan. 2025
The plea agreements, if finalized, would likely result in lengthy prison sentences, potentially keeping the men incarcerated for life.
—Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
Academic researchers have identified hundreds of California women incarcerated for murder or manslaughter in cases that involved intimate partner violence.
—Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 7 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for incarcerate 
Dictionary Entries Near incarcerate
Cite this Entry
“Incarcerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarcerate. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
incarcerate
verb
Legal Definition
incarcerate
transitive verb
Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare, from in- in + carcer prison
Share