Definition

1. Verb:
   • To put or keep someone in a prison or a place they cannot leave: The primary meaning is to legally or forcibly confine a person in a jail or prison as a form of punishment or while awaiting trial.
   • To restrict someone's freedom or confine them as if in a prison: Used figuratively to describe a situation where someone is trapped or confined, not necessarily in a literal jail, but in a restrictive situation, place, or by circumstances.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • The judge decided to imprison the criminal for ten years. (This shows the legal act of sentencing someone to jail.)
  • The oppressive regime would imprison anyone who spoke against it. (This illustrates imprisonment for political reasons.)
  • Feeling imprisoned by her own fears, she rarely left the house. (This is a figurative use, meaning confined by emotions.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be imprisoned" (passive voice): This is a common construction to describe the state of being confined.
  • He was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.
• "to imprison oneself" (reflexive): Used to describe a self-imposed restriction.
  • By refusing to learn new skills, he imprisoned himself in a dead-end job.

Variants and Related Words

• Imprisonment (n): The state of being imprisoned; the act of imprisoning.
  • His imprisonment lasted for five years.
• Imprisonable (adj): Describing an offense for which one can be imprisoned.
  • Theft is an imprisonable offense.

Synonyms

• Incarcerate: To lock up or imprison, often used in more formal or legal contexts.
• Confine: To keep or restrict someone or something within certain limits.
• Detain: To keep someone in official custody, often for a short period or before imprisonment.
• Lock up: An informal synonym for imprison.

Related Phrasal Verbs

(Note: "Imprison" itself is not commonly used with particles to form phrasal verbs. The action is typically expressed with the verb alone or with prepositions like "in.")

Related Idioms

• "To throw someone in jail/prison": An informal idiom meaning to imprison someone.
  • The corrupt official was finally thrown in jail.
• "Behind bars": An idiom meaning in prison.
  • The gang leader is now safely behind bars.

Verb

1. confine as if in a prison; he does not let them go out without a chaperone"
   • His daughters are virtually imprisoned in their own house
2. lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
   • The suspects were imprisoned without trial
   • the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life