prison
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A building where people are kept as punishment for crimes.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
prizuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpɹɪzən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A place or institution where people are held against their will, in the US especially for long-term confinement, as of those convicted of serious crimes or otherwise considered undesirable by the government.
uncountable
Confinement in prison.
colloquialfigurative
Any restrictive environment, such as a harsh academy or home.
verb
transitive
To imprison.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A place or institution where people are held against their will, in the US especially for long-term confinement, as of those convicted of serious crimes or otherwise considered undesirable by the government.
Used this way, prison is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in government or politics contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Government/politics
Nearby words
- prison house , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use prison
- “The old building was once a prison before it became a museum.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: place
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.