Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use jail in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Jail means a place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding. Example: “He was sent to jail for theft.”

Examples of jail by meaning

nounA place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention...

  • serve time in jail
  • released from jail
  • He was sent to jail for theft.

nounConfinement in a jail.

  • Jail would have an adverse effect on her and her three children as she was the main carer.2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in Guardian

verbTo imprison, incarcerate, enjail.

  • It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
  • A 22-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for fatally stabbing 22-year-old Tashan Daniel in an unprovoked attack at Hillingdon Underground station on September 24 2019.2020 September 9, “Network News: Man jailed for Hillingdon murder”, in Rail, page 25

More sentences with jail

  • She burned the child with an iron, and was jailed for ten years.From the entry burn
  • The new increase in crime argues for even tougher jail sentences, according to some.From the entry argue
  • He only got a fine and so escaped going to jail.From the entry escape
  • Since his arrest, the mob boss has exchanged a mansion for a jail cell.From the entry exchange
  • We strongly object to sending her to jail for ten years.From the entry object
  • She could've faced jail time, but her talented lawyer got her off with only a fine.From the entry get off
  • He rolled on those guys after being in jail two days.From the entry roll
  • Is this the reward I get for telling the truth: to be put in jail?From the entry reward
  • Don't be so uptight! You won't go to jail for crossing the street against the light.From the entry uptight
  • He forfeited his last chance of an early release from jail by repeatedly attacking another inmate.From the entry forfeit
  • Without the real murderer's confession, an innocent person could be jailed.From the entry confession
  • Can Abrahamic religious leaders call other religions "satanic" without being in jail?From the entry satanic
  • The magistrate ordered the suspect to be thrown into jail.From the entry throw
  • He did a seven-year stretch in jail.From the entry stretch
  • DUI is punishable by jail time and by fines.From the entry dui
  • She is facing jail time for attempted robbery.From the entry attempted
  • She was deservingly jailed for her crimes.From the entry deservingly
  • They busted in the jail to find the accused man.From the entry bust in
  • The sheriff clapped him in jail.From the entry clap
  • He had a stint in jail.From the entry stint
  • He is looking at jail time.From the entry look at
  • He did the crime and will go to jail - the fact that he did not know it was illegal does not enter into it.From the entry enter into
  • One of them was a hulking brute of a man, heavily tattooed and with a hardened face that practically screamed "I just got out of jail."From the entry brute
  • Many of the J6ers had never been incarcerated before, and jail came as a shock.2024 September 16, Hanna Rosin, “The Insurrectionists Next Door”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN. From the entry J6er
  • He could get sent to jail for breaking in like a thieving fidlam ben.2023 December 4, Bree Wolf, Sydney Jane Baily, Tracy Sumner, Charlie Lane, Fenna Edgewood, Jennifer Monroe, Meredith Bond, Naughty or…. From the entry fidlam ben
  • Gaol is actually the traditional British way of spelling the American jail.2022 March 25, anarlote, “PLEASE remove the multiplayer "4 players per world" summon restrictions and make it more like DS3. Fight clubs…. From the entry Eagleland Osmosis
  • Bad kittens go to gay baby jail until they stop trying to eat their siblings!2018 October 30, Raicatty, Twitter. From the entry gay baby jail
  • But later, at a separate meeting, I encountered Suju, the wife of another jailed groomer.2017 September 30, Yasmin Alibhai-brown, “Wives of Muslim men jailed for rape reveal why they blame the victims”, in Mail Online. From the entry groomer
  • If you're too afraid to do that, just shove it into your jail purse.2016, Willam Belli, Suck Less: Where There's a Willam, There's a Way. From the entry jail purse
  • Estela: Well, they'd take me to jail, I'd violate, and I go to prison.2014, Juanita Díaz-Cotto, Chicana Lives and Criminal Justice: Voices from El Barrio, page 165. From the entry violate
  • Prison has diminishing returns, and America long ago passed the point where jailing more people makes sense.2013 August 17, “One nation, behind bars”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8849. From the entry decades
  • But I had to go to jail for a whole year.2012, Russell Banks, Book of Jamaica. From the entry juke
  • My wife, my curlyhead, my debts and jail stop worrying me.2012, Jim Quinn, “Day Job”, in Waiting for the Wars to End: Two Stories, Boston, Mass.: Pressed Wafer, →ISBN, page 25. From the entry curlyhead
  • If the accused is unable to make bail, he or she is detained in jail.2011, Larry J. Siegel, Criminology, page 658. From the entry bail

Meaning of jail

  1. noun A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.
  2. noun Confinement in a jail.
  3. noun The condition created by the requirement that a horse claimed in a claiming race not be run at another track for some period of time (usually 30 days).

Full definition of jail

Questions about jail in a sentence

How do you use jail in a sentence?
Jail is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He was sent to jail for theft.”
What is a short sentence with jail?
“released from jail”
What does jail mean?
Jail means a place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: jail (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use jail in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/jail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.