imprisonment (n.)

late 14c., from Anglo-French emprisonement (13c.), Old French emprisonnement "capture, imprisonment" (13c.), from emprisoner (see imprison).

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to imprisonment

imprison (v.)

c. 1300, from Old French emprisoner "imprison; be in prison" (12c.), from assimilated form of in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + prison (see prison). Formerly also emprison. Related: Imprisoned; imprisoning.

Trends of imprisonment

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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captivity

late 14c., "state of being a prisoner," Old French *captivite or directly from Latin captivitatem (nominative captivitas), from captivus "caught, taken prisoner," from captus, past participle of capere "to take, hold, seize" (from PIE root *kap- "to grasp"). An Old English cognat

incarceration

"fact of being imprisoned," 1530s, from Medieval Latin incarcerationem (nominative incarceratio), noun of action from past-participle stem of incarcerare "to imprison," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + carcer "prison, an enclosed space," from Proto-Italic *kar-kr(o)-, whi

oubliette

Used for persons condemned to perpetual imprisonment or to perish secretly....

rounder

drunkard, or criminal" is by 1854, American English, on notion of one who "goes the round" of misdemeanor, arrest, trial, imprisonment...

roundhouse

also round-house, mid-15c., "lockup, place of imprisonment, a guarded building" (a sense now obsolete), from Dutch rondhuis...

caption

late 14c., "a taking, seizure," from Old French capcion "arrest, capture, imprisonment," or directly from Latin captionem...

hold

Meaning "place of refuge" is from c. 1200; that of "fortified place" is from c. 1300; that of "place of imprisonment" is...

punishment

late 14c., punishement, in law, "the assessing or inflicting of pain, suffering, loss, confinement, etc. on a person for a crime or offense," from Anglo-French punisement (late 13c.), Old French punissement, from punir (see punish). From early 15c. as "suffering or hardship infli

aplenty

also a-plenty, "in abundance," by 1829, colloquial when used after the noun, from a- (1) + plenty (n.). Two square feet, or four at most, in one corner of the frame, will give you mustard and cress a plenty for salads, if you take care to make repeated sowings in proper time. [W

penalty

c. 1500, "punishment," from Old French penalite and directly from Medieval Latin penalitatem (nominative penalitas), from Latin poenalis "pertaining to punishment" (see penal). Specifically as "the punishment laid out by law or judicial decision for a violation of the law" is by

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updated on September 28, 2017

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Dictionary entries near imprisonment

impressment

imprevisible

imprimatur

imprint

imprison

imprisonment

improbability

improbable

improbity

imprompt

impromptitude