imprisonment

English

Alternative forms

emprisonment (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman emprisonement, from Old French emprisonnement. See imprison +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɪzn̩.mənt/
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

imprisonment (countable and uncountable, plural imprisonments)

A confinement in a place, especially a prison or a jail, as punishment for a crime.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 2:
  His sinews woxen weake and raw / Through long emprisonment and hard constraint.
- 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, OCLC 65350522:
  Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or even by forcibly detaining one in the public streets.
- 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], OCLC 37026674, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
  Oh, by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings, oppressions, imprisonments, tortures, poisonings, and under what reasons of state and politic subtilty, have these forenamed kings […] pulled the vengeance of God upon themselves […]

Synonyms

incarceration
jaildom

Derived terms

life imprisonment

Translations

confinement

Arabic: حَبْس‎ (ar) m (ḥabs), سَجْن‎ (ar) m (sajn)
Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: բանտարկություն (hy) (bantarkutʿyun)
Aromanian: please add this translation if you can
Asturian: encarcelamientu m
Azerbaijani: azadlıqdan məhrumetmə
Belarusian: зняво́ленне n (znjavóljennje), пазбаўле́нне во́лі n (pazbaŭljénnje vóli)
Bulgarian: затваряне n (zatvarjane)
Catalan: empresonament (ca) m
Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: 徒刑 (zh) (túxíng), 下獄 (zh), 下狱 (zh) (xiàyù)
Czech: uvěznění n
Danish: fangenskab (da) n
Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: gevangenschap (nl) n
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: vangistus
Faroese: fangilsi n
Finnish: vankeus (fi)
French: emprisonnement (fr) m
Galician: encarceramento (gl) m
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: Gefangenschaft (de) f, Haft (de) f
Greek: φυλάκιση (el) f (fylákisi), κάθειρξη (el) f (kátheirxi) (law, more than five years)
Irish: gabhann m, príosún (ga) m, príosúnacht f, príosúnú m, braighdeanas m
Italian: detenzione (it) f, incarcerazione (it) f
Japanese: 徒刑 (ja) (とけい, tokei), 懲役 (ja) (ちょうえき, chōeki), 投獄 (ja) (とうごく, tōgoku)
Khmer: ការដាក់គុក (kaa dak kuk)
Korean: 투옥(投獄) (ko) (tuok), 도형 (ko) (dohyeong)
Macedonian: заробеништво n (zarobeništvo), затворање n (zatvoranje)
Malayalam: തടവ് (ml) (taṭavŭ)
Maori: mauheretanga
Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Bokmål: fengsling (no) m or f
Nynorsk: fengsling f
Occitan: encarceracion (oc) f
Oromo: hidhaa
Polish: uwięzienie (pl) n, osądzenie (pl) n, pozbawienie wolności (pl) n
Portuguese: aprisionamento m
Romanian: întemnițare (ro), încarcerare (ro)
Russian: (тюре́мное) заключе́ние n ((tjurémnoje) zaključénije), лише́ние свобо́ды (ru) n (lišénije svobódy), заточе́ние (ru) n (zatočénije)
Scottish Gaelic: ciomachas m
Slovak: väznenie n, uväznenie n
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: popajź f
Spanish: encarcelamiento (es) m, encarcelación (es) f, aprisionamiento m, cautiverio (es) m, cautividad (es) f
Swedish: fångenskap (sv) c
Turkish: hapsetme (tr)
Ukrainian: ув'я́знення n (uvʺjáznennja), позба́влення во́лі n (pozbávlennja vóli)
Vietnamese: phạt tù
Volapük: fanäböpam, fanäbam (vo)
Walloon: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: carchariad (cy) m
Yiddish: please add this translation if you can