Synonyms of jail
68 similar words
Another word for jail is gaol. Other synonyms of jail are brig, Dartmoor and jailhouse.
Synonyms and similar words for jail
nounA place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or...
nounMore synonyms
- big housePrison, jail.
- borstal
- bridewellA small prison, or a police station that has cells.
- brigA jail or guardhouse, especially in a naval military prison or jail on a ship, navy base, or (in fiction) spacecraft.
- calaboose Australia, USA prison or jail/gaol.
- canJail or prison.
- chokey UK
- choky UK
- clink
- correctional facilityA prison, reformatory, or similar institution in which people are confined for the purpose of punishment or social...
- correctional institutionSynonym of correctional facility.
- crowbar hotelJail.
- detention centreA facility in which people are detained (held in custody); a jail.
- dungeon
- gaolDated spelling of jail.
- glasshouse
- graybar hotelJail, prison.
- guardhouse
- gulag
- hock
- hole
- honor farmSynonym of prison farm.
- house of detentionA prison, especially a temporary one.
- iron housePrison.
- jailhouseA building containing a prison.
- jointPrison, jail, or lockup.
- jugJail.
- juvenile hallSynonym of youth detention centre.
- juvie
- lockupA jail cell; a period of incarceration in such a cell; a facility containing such cells.
- nigger university offensive, slang
- nick
- pen
- penal colonyA colonial territory used (mainly) for the detention and forced labor of criminals, typically where free labor is...
- penitentiary
- pokey
- porridge UK
- prison
- prison camp
- prison farmA large correctional facility in which convicts are forced to do manual labor, largely in open air.
- prison hulk
- prison ship
- queer kenA prison.
- remand center
- roundhouse
- slam
- stalag
- stirJail; prison.
- stockade
- tronkA prison.
- up the riverTo prison.
- workhouse
- AlcatrazAn island in San Francisco Bay California, United States, formerly the site of a famous prison; in full, Alcatraz...
- Attica
- BastilleA jail or prison, especially one regarded as mistreating its prisoners.
- DartmoorA pony of a compact, hardy breed found in Devon, England.
- Devil's Island
- Folsom
- Hanoi HiltonHỏa Lò Prison in Vietnam, where prisoners of war were held and tortured.
- Leavenworth
- Lefortovo
- Maze
- Pelican Bay
- San Quentin
- Sing SingA maximum-security prison in New York State.
- Tower
Meaning of jail
- 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.
- noun Confinement in a jail.
- 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).
jail in other languages
Questions about synonyms of jail
- What is another word for jail?
- Jail has 68 synonyms on Word.ws, such as gaol, brig, Dartmoor and jailhouse.
- 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 of the words listed. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws grouped the synonyms and antonyms by meaning and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this page: “Synonyms of jail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/synonyms/jail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.