1
: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
specifically
: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (such as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes compare prison
2
: confinement in a jail
sentenced to jail
Synonyms
Examples of jail in a Sentence
Noun
He was locked up in the county jail.
He was arrested and sent to jail.
He went to jail for his crimes.
He just got out of jail a few weeks ago.
He was kept in jail overnight.
Verb
threatened to jail the punks if they so much as jaywalked
Recent Examples on the Web
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2025
Yarrow, who resumed his career after serving three months in jail, was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981.
—CBS News, 7 Jan. 2025
Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
Robinson was jailed after admitting contempt of court last year for continually repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee that led to the refugee and his family receiving death threats.
—David Gilbert, WIRED, 3 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for jail 
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Noun
To avoid violence, assembled federal agents did not make immediate arrests, but Lyman was later convicted, and served 10 days in jail.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 7 Jan. 2025
Yarrow, who resumed his career after serving three months in jail, was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1981.
—CBS News, 7 Jan. 2025
Verb
During the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the Philippines from 1972 to 1986, the United States trained and funded a Philippine army that tortured, jailed, and disappeared thousands of dissidents.
—Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
Robinson was jailed after admitting contempt of court last year for continually repeating false claims about a Syrian refugee that led to the refugee and his family receiving death threats.
—David Gilbert, WIRED, 3 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for jail
Dictionary Entries Near jail
Cite this Entry
“Jail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jail. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
jail
noun
: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
specifically
: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes compare house of correction, house of detention, lockup, penitentiary, prison
jail
transitive verb
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