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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.
Examples of incarcerate in a Sentence
Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 26 Feb. 2025
He was denied bond and remained incarcerated until his trial began last February.
—David Peisner, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2025
Black and Indigenous communities are still arrested and incarcerated at disproportionately high rates compared with their percentage in the U.S. population.
—Brittany Friedman, The Conversation, 21 Feb. 2025
Students who are suspended are less likely to graduate, have worse employment potential, are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated, and are even less likely to vote or volunteer in their communities in the future.
—Aaron Kupchik, TIME, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incarcerate
Cite this Entry
“Incarcerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarcerate. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
incarcerate
verb
Legal Definition
incarcerate
transitive verb
Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare, from in- in + carcer prison
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