jail

noun

A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.

(uncountable) Confinement in a jail.

In dodgeball and related games, the area where players who have been struck by the ball are confined.

(horse racing, uncountable) The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).

(computing, FreeBSD, usually uncountable) A kind of sandbox for running a guest operating system instance.

verb

To imprison.

Roots

caveajail- · Latin · hollow, enclosure

Synonyms for jail

jailhousen slammern prisonn incarceratev calaboose imprisonv hoosegown penitentiaryn bridewell lockupn immurev pokeyadj clinkn quod borstaln

Synonyms & related words for jail

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of jail — including jailhouse, slammer, prison, incarcerate, calaboose, imprison. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to jail

Explore words related to jail — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include convicts, prisoners, jailbirds, remand, incarceration, imprisonable, reimprison, imprisonment. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for jail

Common synonyms for jail include jailhouse, slammer, prison, incarcerate, calaboose, imprison, hoosegow, penitentiary — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does jail come from?

The word jail breaks down into one root of Latin origin: the root jail-, from Latin cavea (“hollow, enclosure”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.