as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
Deacon Brodie, thought to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was publicly hung at the site of the old tolbooth of Edinburgh
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tolbooth
Noun
-
Captain has been released from jail after a judge set bail at $250,000, and he is set to enter a plea on April 9, court records show.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
6 Apr. 2026 -
Housing would be freed up by deporting some people and putting others in jail.—
Antonia Hitchens,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
On that same day, nearly 300 people were sent to the prison in El Salvador from the same Texas detention center, according to the American Immigration Council.—
Seth Klamann,
Denver Post,
6 Apr. 2026
-
Sacramento’s smallest zoo Alali now lives in Natomas with her fiancé, Alex Saraceno, along with Merlin; a girl group of rats named Monica, Moira and Amy; a former prison pigeon named Al Capone; a bearded dragon named Muffy; and a dog named Maverick.—
Camila Pedrosa,
Sacbee.com,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The government opened the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz in 1934, hoping to use the remote island to house particularly difficult prisoners, according to the National Park Service.—
Justine McDaniel,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Apr. 2026
-
But Wood’s penitentiary is considerably sturdier.—
Robert Rubsam,
The Atlantic,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Crews uncovered the marble slab while excavating the site of the Mentor, a brig owned by Thomas Bruce, the British soldier and diplomat known as Lord Elgin, according to Greece's Ministry of Culture and BBC News, a CBS News partner.—
Emily Mae Czachor,
CBS News,
19 Mar. 2026
-
Rules of engagement are also on the law books, so--if for no other reason--American troops follow them to stay out of the brig.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Mar. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Tolbooth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tolbooth. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
