incarcerate
UK/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt//ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/
incarcerate verb: to lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
Verb
incarcerate (third-person singular simple present incarcerates, present participle incarcerating, simple past and past participle incarcerated)
- To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
- Tolokonnikova has also been an effective public speaker even while incarcerated, but she has spoken out on politics and freedom in general rather than prisoners’ rights.2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, “Life in a Russian Prison”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2022, retrieved 24 Sep 2013
- In 2021, a judge found that Angola was providing inadequate medical care to its incarcerated population.2025 September 3, Hannah Rabinowitz, Devon M. Sayers, “Trump administration to open new ICE facility at notorious Louisiana prison”, in CNN
- To confine; to shut up or enclose; to hem in.
Adjective
incarcerate (not comparable)
- Incarcerated: jailed, imprisoned, confined, shut in.
- Tane and incarcerat, kepit heir an there1583, Preface to The Legend of the Bishop St Androis Lyfe
- Nor is that radiant force in humane kind / Extinguiſht quite, he that did them create / Can thoſe dull ruſty chains of ſleep unbind, / And rear the ſoul unto her ſristin ſtate: / He can them ſo inlarge and elevate / And ſpreaden out, that they can compaſſe all, / When they no longer be incarcerate...1642, H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ [Psychathanasia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Poem of the Immortality of Souls, Especially Mans Soul”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the...
incarcerate meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
incarcerate in Tamil
- சிறையில் அடைக்கப்பட்ட
incarcerate in Urdu
- محبوس کرنا, قید میں ڈالنا
incarcerate in Bengali
- কারারুদ্ধ করা, বন্দি করা, কয়েদ করা
incarcerate in Malayalam
- put in prison, imprison, send to prison
- ബന്ധിക്കുക, തടവിൽവയ്ക്കുക, തടവിലിടുക, ജയിലിലടയ്ക്കുക, ബന്തവസ്സിൽ വയ്ക്കുക, ജയിലിലാക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- incarcerate in Kannada
- ಸೆರೆಯಲ್ಲಿಡು, ಬಂಧಿಸು, ಕೂಡಿಹಾಕು, ಸೆರೆಯಿಡು
- incarcerate in Thai
- จำคุก jam-kúk
Synonyms of incarcerate
Forms of incarcerate
| third-person singular present | incarcerates |
|---|---|
| present participle | incarcerating |
| past participle | incarcerated |
| past | incarcerated |
| alternative form | encarcerate |
Origin of incarcerate
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.
Words formed from incarcerate
Questions about incarcerate
- What does incarcerate mean?
- Incarcerate means to lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
- What is incarcerate in Tamil?
- Incarcerate in Tamil is சிறையில் அடைக்கப்பட்ட. See Incarcerate meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is incarcerate?
- Incarcerate can be a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce incarcerate?
- Incarcerate is pronounced /ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of incarcerate?
- The past tense of incarcerate is incarcerated.
Words near incarcerate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: incarcerate (page history and authors); incarcerate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); incarcerate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Incarcerate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); incarcerate (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); incarcerate (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-incarcerate.wav.
Cite this entry: “incarcerate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/incarcerate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.