Definitions for imprisonment
im·pris·on·ment

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. imprisonmentnoun

   putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment

2. captivity, imprisonment, incarceration, immurementnoun

   the state of being imprisoned

   "he was held in captivity until he died"; "the imprisonment of captured soldiers"; "his ignominious incarceration in the local jail"; "he practiced the immurement of his enemies in the castle dungeon"

3. imprisonment, internmentnoun

   the act of confining someone in a prison (or as if in a prison)

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. imprisonmentnoun

   A confinement in a place, especially a prison.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Imprisonmentnoun

   Confinement; clausure; state of being shut in prison. It may be written emprisonment.

   Etymology: emprisonnement, Fr. from imprison.

   His sinews waxen weak and raw,
   Through long imprisonment and hard constraint. F. Queen.

   Which shall I first bewail,
   Thy bondage or lost sight,
   Thou art become, O worst imprisonment!
   The dungeon of thyself. John Milton, Agonistes.

   From retentive cage
   When sullen Philomel escapes, her notes
   She varies, and of past imprisonment
   Sweetly complains. Phillips.

   Count Serini, still close prisoner in this castle, lost his senses by his long imprisonment and afflictions. Addison.

   It is well if they don't fix the brand of heresy on the man who is leading them out of their long imprisonment, and looseing the fetters of their souls. Isaac Watts, Impr. of the Mind.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. imprisonment

   Officers may be sentenced to imprisonment by a general court-martial in any case where the court may have discretionary authority. General, garrison, and regimental courts-martial may sentence soldiers to imprisonment, solitary or otherwise, with or without hard labor, for various offenses enumerated in the Articles of War. A garrison or regimental court-martial, in awarding imprisonment, is limited to a period not exceeding thirty days. When a court awards solitary imprisonment as a punishment, it is necessary that the words “solitary confinement” should be expressed in the sentence. The legal imprisonment in the United States is confinement, solitary confinement, and confinement on bread and water; confinement on bread and water shall not extend over fourteen days at a time, with intervals between the periods of such confinement not less than such periods, and not exceeding eighty-four days in any one year.

Matched Categories

1. • Confinement
   • Law
   • Punishment

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'imprisonment' in Nouns Frequency: #2319

How to pronounce imprisonment?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say imprisonment in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of imprisonment in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of imprisonment in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of imprisonment in a Sentence

1. Janet Lyness:

   They couldn't give me assurances, (But) I think life imprisonment is the most likely option.

2. George Brandis:

   I make no apology for the government taking the view that if a person, having served a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, shows every indication of a willingness to repeat that crime, to reoffend as soon as they are released, they should remain behind bars.

3. Steve Maraboli:

   Free yourself from the imprisonment of your own limiting beliefs and prejudices."

4. Justice Michael Code:

   I am satisfied that life imprisonment is the appropriate sentences for both counts one and two.

5. Joseph Lewis:

   The burning of an author’s books, imprisonment for opinion’s sake, has always been the tribute that an ignorant age pays to the genius of its time.

Popularity rank by frequency of use