| / English Dictionary |
IMPRISONMENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of confining someone in a prison (or as if in a prison)
Synonyms:
imprisonment; internment
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("imprisonment" is a kind of...):
confinement (the act of restraining of a person's liberty by confining them)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imprisonment"):
lockdown (the act of confining prisoners to their cells (usually to regain control during a riot))
false imprisonment ((law) confinement without legal authority)
custody (holding by the police)
Derivation:
imprison (lock up or confine, in or as in a jail)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("imprisonment" is a kind of...):
penalisation; penalization; penalty; punishment (the act of punishing)
Domain category:
jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)
Derivation:
imprison (lock up or confine, in or as in a jail)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The state of being imprisoned
Example:
he practiced the immurement of his enemies in the castle dungeon
Synonyms:
captivity; immurement; imprisonment; incarceration
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("imprisonment" is a kind of...):
confinement (the state of being confined)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imprisonment"):
durance (imprisonment (especially for a long time))
life imprisonment (a sentence of imprisonment until death)
internment (confinement during wartime)
Derivation:
imprison (confine as if in a prison)
Context examples:
But Beppo was condemned to a year’s imprisonment, and in the meanwhile his six busts were scattered over London.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I did so, and did so every morning of my imprisonment, which lasted five days.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Catherine began to feel something of disappointment—she was tired of being continually pressed against by people, the generality of whose faces possessed nothing to interest, and with all of whom she was so wholly unacquainted that she could not relieve the irksomeness of imprisonment by the exchange of a syllable with any of her fellow captives; and when at last arrived in the tea-room, she felt yet more the awkwardness of having no party to join, no acquaintance to claim, no gentleman to assist them.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
By way of going in for anything that might be on the cards, I call to mind that Mr. Micawber, about this time, composed a petition to the House of Commons, praying for an alteration in the law of imprisonment for debt.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I would have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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