inmate
UK/ˈɪn.meɪt/
inmate noun: a person confined to an institution such as a prison (as a convict) or hospital (as a patient).
Noun
inmate (plural inmates)
- A person confined to an institution such as a prison (as a convict) or hospital (as a patient).
- A person who shares a residence (such as a hotel guest, a lodger, or a student living on campus), or other place.
- I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC
- [T]he inmates of the coach, by numerous hard, painful joltings, and ponderous, dragging trundlings, are suddenly made sensible of some great change in the character of the road.1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XVI. First Night of Their Arrival in the City.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section I, pages 312–313
- Synonym of passenger, a person held or riding within a vehicle.
- P. della Valle writes in the same strain: "And these two, the palankins and the andors [a kind of doli] also differ from one another, for in the andor the cane which sustains it is, as it is in the reti, straight; whereas in the palankin, for the greater convenience of the inmate, and to give more...1916 July, Henry Yule & al., "Padre Maestro Fray Seb. Manrique in Bengal (1628–Sept. 11, 1629)", Bengal Past & Present, Vol. XIII, No. 25, p. 32
- Synonyms:
- passenger
inmate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
inmate in Hindi
- one who occupies a dwelling-house
- भीतरिया bhītriyā, साकिन sākin, सहनिवासी sahnivāsī, अन्तःवासी antaḥvāsī, सहवासी sahvāsī, सहवर्ती sahvartī
inmate in Tamil
- உடனுறைபவர், உறைபவர், குடியிருப்பவர், தங்கியிருப்பவர்
inmate in Urdu
- ہم خانہ, مکین, ساکن
inmate in Bengali
- কারাবন্দী, আবাসিক, কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠানের অন্তেবাসী
More languagesFewer languages
- inmate in Malayalam
- അന്തേവാസി antēvāsi
- inmate in Kannada
- ಸೆರೆಮನೆ, ಇರುವವನು, ಒಡನಿರುವವನು, ಒಡತಂಗುಗ
- inmate in Arabic
- سَجِين m سَجِينَة sajīn, نَزِيل m نَزِيلَة nazīl, سَاكِن sākin, سَاكِنَة sākina
Examples of inmate in a sentence
- The asylum inmate muttered some doggerel about chains and pains to himself, over and over.
- He forfeited his last chance of an early release from jail by repeatedly attacking another inmate.
- The guard hefted his cudgel menacingly and looked at the inmates.
Synonyms of inmate
Forms of inmate
| plural | inmates |
|---|
Origin of inmate
From inn + -mate, or from in- + -mate.
Words formed from inmate
Questions about inmate
- What does inmate mean?
- Inmate means a person confined to an institution such as a prison (as a convict) or hospital (as a patient).
- What is inmate in Hindi?
- Inmate in Hindi is भीतरिया (bhītriyā), साकिन (sākin), सहनिवासी (sahnivāsī). See Inmate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is inmate?
- Inmate is a noun.
- How do you pronounce inmate?
- Inmate is pronounced /ˈɪn.meɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of inmate?
- The plural of inmate is inmates.
Words near inmate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: inmate (page history and authors); inmate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inmate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Inmate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); അന്തേവാസി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); inmate (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-inmate.wav.
Cite this entry: “inmate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inmate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
