decarcerate
UK/diːˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/US/diːˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/
decarcerate verb: to implement a policy of decarceration; to reduce prison populations.
Verb
decarcerate (third-person singular simple present decarcerates, present participle decarcerating, simple past and past participle decarcerated)
- To implement a policy of decarceration; to reduce prison populations.
- Refusing to decarcerate and now increasing spending on policing that will drive the shuttling of even more Americans into jails and prisons is especially perverse given the recent attention paid to the worsening conditions of confinement and the mistreatment of the incarcerated.2022 January 25, Eric Reinhardt, “How Joe Biden Launched a New Prison Boom”, in Slate
Forms of decarcerate
| third-person singular present | decarcerates |
|---|---|
| present participle | decarcerating |
| past participle | decarcerated |
| past | decarcerated |
Origin of decarcerate
Modeled on incarcerate, replacing the prefix with de-.
Questions about decarcerate
- What does decarcerate mean?
- Decarcerate means to implement a policy of decarceration; to reduce prison populations.
- What part of speech is decarcerate?
- Decarcerate is a verb.
- How do you pronounce decarcerate?
- Decarcerate is pronounced /diːˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of decarcerate?
- The past tense of decarcerate is decarcerated.
Words near decarcerate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: decarcerate (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “decarcerate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decarcerate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.