incarcerate

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/

The English word “incarcerate” has 3 meanings listed here.

verb

To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
To confine; to shut up or enclose; to hem in.

adjective

Incarcerated: jailed, imprisoned, confined, shut in.

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1575; borrowed from Medieval Latin incarcerātus, perfect passive participle of incarcerō (“to imprison”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin in- (“in”) + carcer (“a prison”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “incarcerate” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.