Definition

1. Noun:
   • Prison, jail, gaol: A secure building or complex where individuals who have been convicted of crimes or are awaiting trial are legally held in custody by the state.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Họ đã đưa tên tội phạm vào nhà tù. (They put the criminal in prison.)
  • Nhà tù này có hệ thống an ninh rất nghiêm ngặt. (This prison has a very strict security system.)
  • Ông ấy đã bị giam trong nhà tù suốt mười năm. (He was imprisoned in jail for ten years.)

Advanced Usage

• The term can be used in formal, legal contexts as well as in general speech to refer to the institution of incarceration.
• "nhà tù tinh thần": a metaphorical phrase meaning "a mental/psychological prison," describing a state of restrictive thoughts or emotions.
  • Nỗi sợ hãi đã tạo ra một nhà tù tinh thần cho cô ấy. (Fear created a mental prison for her.)

Variants and Related Words

• Nhà lao (n): A synonym for prison, often with a similar formal or historical connotation.

  • Nhà lao được xây dựng từ thời Pháp thuộc. (The prison was built during the French colonial period.)

• Nhà pha (n): A less common, often more literary or old-fashioned synonym for prison.

• Trại giam (n): Detention camp, penitentiary; often implies a larger or more specific facility.
• Trại cải tạo (n): Re-education camp.

Synonyms

• Prison: The general term for a place of long-term confinement for convicted criminals.
• Jail/Gaol: Often used for local facilities holding individuals awaiting trial or serving short sentences.
• Penitentiary: A term for a large, state or federal prison.
• Correctional facility: A modern, formal term.

Related Idioms

• Vào tù ra tội: An idiom describing the cycle of being in and out of prison, implying a life of recurring crime and punishment.

  • Cuộc đời của hắn là một chuỗi dài vào tù ra tội. (His life is a long series of being in and out of jail.)

• Tù đày: To imprison or send into exile; conveys suffering and punishment.

  • Họ bị tù đày vì chính kiến của mình. (They were imprisoned for their political views.)

1. cũng như nhà lao, nhà pha Prison,jail, gaol