incarceration
noun
in·car·cer·a·tion
(ˌ)in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən 
plural incarcerations
: confinement in a jail or prison : the act of imprisoning someone or the state of being imprisoned
Despite the drop in crime in past decades, rates of arrest and incarceration in New York City have not gone down.—
Robin Steinberg
Robin SteinbergTo this day, the Supreme Court has not overruled its infamous Korematsu opinion of 1944, which validated our mass incarceration in deference to national security.—George Takei
George TakeiExamples of incarceration in a Sentence
he was bored and frustrated by his incarceration in the quarantine
sentenced to six months of incarceration for dealing in narcotics
Recent Examples on the Web
The correlation between illiteracy and incarceration has been known for a long time.
—David Owen, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Meek Mill, whose incarceration and subsequent advocacy for criminal-justice reform managed to reframe street authenticity in rap, chimed in, addressing rappers and fans taking issue with 21’s comments.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 22 Dec. 2025
Under the law, immigration detention operates outside the norms of criminal incarceration.
—Lauren Villagran, USA Today, 21 Dec. 2025
Then at 18, she was locked out by her foster family and subsequently fell in and out of homelessness, working temp jobs to get by, and facing poverty, hunger and incarceration.
—Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Mercury News, 21 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incarceration
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David Owen, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
Meek Mill, whose incarceration and subsequent advocacy for criminal-justice reform managed to reframe street authenticity in rap, chimed in, addressing rappers and fans taking issue with 21’s comments.
—Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 22 Dec. 2025
Under the law, immigration detention operates outside the norms of criminal incarceration.
—Lauren Villagran, USA Today, 21 Dec. 2025
Then at 18, she was locked out by her foster family and subsequently fell in and out of homelessness, working temp jobs to get by, and facing poverty, hunger and incarceration.
—Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Mercury News, 21 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for incarceration
Cite this Entry
“Incarceration.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/incarceration. Accessed 31 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
incarceration
noun
in·car·cer·a·tion
in-ˌkär-sə-ˈrā-shən
1
: a confining or state of being confined
2
: abnormal retention or confinement of a body part
specifically
: a constriction of the neck of a hernial sac so that the hernial contents become irreducible
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