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Just as English is full of nouns referring to places where prisoners are confined, from the familiar (jail and prison) to the obscure (calaboose and bridewell), so we have multiple verbs for the action of putting people behind bars. Some words can be used as both nouns and verbs, if in slightly different forms: one can be jailed in a jail, imprisoned in a prison, locked up in a lockup, or even jugged in a jug. Incarcerate does not have such a noun equivalent in English—incarceration refers to the state of confinement rather than a physical structure—but it comes ultimately from the Latin noun carcer, meaning “prison.” Incarcerate is also on the formal end of the spectrum when it comes to words related to the law and criminal justice, meaning you are more likely to read or hear about someone incarcerated in a penitentiary or detention center than in the pokey or hoosegow.
Synonyms
Examples of incarcerate in a Sentence
Alexandra Banner, CNN, 4 Feb. 2025
Upon her release in February, Zaira intends to use her previous retail experience and work for Goodwill's NOW program, which employs the recently incarcerated and is funded by the county and state department of corrections.
—Brian Krans, NPR, 3 Feb. 2025
Earlier research identified that while 1.9% of the US prison population has an ADHD diagnosis, estimates put this figure at somewhere between 25% and 40% for longer-term incarcerated males.
—New Atlas, 3 Feb. 2025
The audience included almost 16,000 emergency personnel, including more than 1,000 incarcerated firefighters from across the state.
—Elizabeth Stanton, Fox News, 2 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for incarcerate 
Dictionary Entries Near incarcerate
Cite this Entry
“Incarcerate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarcerate. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
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incarcerate
verb
Legal Definition
incarcerate
transitive verb
Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare, from in- in + carcer prison
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