Jail

/d͡ʒeɪl/ · noun

Meaning

A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding..

Definitions by Sense

1. A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
2. (uncountable) Confinement in a jail.
3. (horse racing, uncountable) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).
4. In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.
5. (computing, FreeBSD, usually uncountable) A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.
6. To imprison.

Example Sentences

serve time in jail

released from jail

jail sentence

He was sent to jail for theft.

She visited her brother in jail.

Taking a shower at the high school, Tommy (the Kitten) Cavanaugh kids Ugly Palmers. "Ugly, if you think the world is coming to an end," he says, "what are you wasting your time here at this jail for? You gonna need American history up there?"

“I’m out!” That, of course, is an excerpt from Robert Durst’s children’s books [sic], Goodbye Jail. “Goodbye money. Goodbye bail. I killed them all, but goodbye jail. Of course! Of course!”

He said Robins had not been in trouble with the law before and had no previous convictions. Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.

Synonyms for jail

Antonyms for jail

Related Words

Word Forms

• jails
• gaol
• jailing
• jailed

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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