prison
[noun]
Synonyms: jail, clink (slang), confinement, cooler (slang), dungeon, jug (slang), lockup, nick (Brit. slang), penitentiary (U.S.), slammer (slang)

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English Thesaurus: prison, jail, gaol, penitentiary, correctional facility, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

pris‧on S2 W2 /ˈprɪzən/ noun
[Word Family: noun: prison, prisoner, imprisonment; verb: imprison; adjective: imprisonable]
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: Latin prehensio 'act of seizing', from prehendere; ⇒ prehensile]

1. [uncountable and countable] a building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime, or while they are waiting to go to court for their trial Synonym : jail ⇒ prisoner, imprison:
He visits his dad in prison every week.
Ricky has been out of prison for three years now.
They’ll probably put him in prison for a long time.
Helen was sent to prison for attacking a man with a knife.
The two men were arrested only a week after they were released from prison.
Three terrorists escaped from Brixton Prison.
an increase in the number of women going to prison
Mr Gunn received a ten year prison sentence.
► Do not say ‘the prison’ unless you are referring to a particular building: She was sent to prison. | He spent five years in prison. | They live opposite the prison.

2. [uncountable] the system that deals with keeping people in a prison:
the prison service
Does prison deter criminals from offending again?

3. [countable] an unpleasant place or situation which it is difficult to escape from:
The farm felt like a prison for her.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

prison
noun
ADJ. local | overcrowded | high-security, maximum-security, top-security | closed | open Open prisons prepare prisoners for life back in the community.
private | women's | debtors' (historical)
military
VERB + PRISON go to He went to prison for tax evasion.
put sb in, send sb to, throw sb into She was sent to prison for leaking state secrets. He was immediately seized and thrown into prison.
be discharged from, be released from, come out of, get out of When did he get out of prison?
escape from A dangerous criminal has escaped from a high-security prison.
avoid, escape You only escaped prison (= escaped being sent to prison) because of your previous good character.
face She was told by magistrates she could now face prison.
PRISON + NOUN sentence, term | cell, hospital | conditions | population | authorities, governor, inmate, officer, staff, warder | service, system
PREP. at a/the~ The police are investigating disturbances at the prison.
in (a/the) ~ How long has her father been in prison? There have been riots in the prison.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

prison

go to prison
She went to prison for theft.
put somebody in prison
Mentally ill people should not be put in prison.
send somebody to prison
I was afraid I might get sent to prison.
be released from prison
He was released from prison six weeks ago.
let somebody out of prison
When's he going to be let out of prison?
come/get out of prison
The boy just come out of prison after doing two years for assault.
escape from (a) prison
Blake escaped from a Missouri prison last year.
an open prison (=one where prisoners are not restricted as much as usual)
He was transferred to an open prison.
a maximum security prison
He was sent to a maximum security prison where prisoners are kept in their cells almost 23 hours a day.
a prison sentence/term (=a period of time in prison as a punishment)
He is serving a four-year prison sentence.
a prison officer/official/warder/guard
Last month, a prisoner attacked two prison officers with a knife.
a prison cell (=a room where a prisoner lives)
Overcrowding means that many prisoners have to share a prison cell.
the prison population (=all the prisoners in a country)
The government wants to reduce the size of the prison population.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

prison
noun
BAD: Sending people to the prison is not the way to reduce crime.
GOOD: Sending people to prison is not the way to reduce crime.

Usage Note:
See note at SCHOOL 1 (school)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

prison a large building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime or while they are waiting to go to court for their trial:
He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Wandsworth Prison
jail a prison, or a similar smaller building where prisoners are kept for a short time:
This old building is the jail that Butch Cassidy escaped from in 1887.
He was taken to a cell in the Los Angeles County Jail.
58% of prisoners are in jail for non-violent crimes.
The strikers were harassed, beaten and put in jail for trespassing.
Grover got caught for not paying his taxes and was sent to jail.
gaol /dʒeɪl/ British English another way of spelling jail:
He spent the night in gaol.
penitentiary /ˌpenəˈtenʃəri, ˌpenɪˈtenʃəri/ American English a large prison for people who are guilty of serious crimes:
the Ohio State Penitentiary
The murderer served 10 years at the penitentiary in Stillwater.
the abandoned federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island
correctional facility American English formal an official word for a prison:
1,000 prisoners rioted at the North County Correctional Facility.
detention centre British English, detention center American English a place where young people who have done something illegal are kept, because they are too young to go to prison. Also used about a place where people who have entered a country illegally are kept:
Kevin, who had been abandoned by his mother, had been in and out of detention centres all his life.
a juvenile detention center
Harmondsworth detention centre, near Heathrow airport
open prison British English a prison in which prisoners have more freedom than in an ordinary prison, usually because their crimes were less serious:
In some open prisons, prisoners are allowed to go home at weekends.
cell a small room in a prison or police station, where someone is kept as a punishment:
a prison cell
Conditions were poor, and there were several prisoners to one cell.
go to jail
They’re going to jail for a long time.
send somebody to jail
The judge sent Meyer to jail for six years.
put somebody in jail
The government would put him in jail if he stayed in the country.
throw somebody in jail (=put somebody in jail)
Drunks were thrown in jail for a few days.
spend time/three months/six years etc in jail
Griffiths spent three days in jail after pushing a policeman.
serve time/five years etc in jail (=spend time in jail)
He was finally released after serving 27 years in jail.
get out of jail
He got out of jail after five years for armed robbery.
release somebody from jail
More than 30 of those arrested were released from jail for lack of evidence.
escape from jail
The killer has escaped from jail.
the local jail
The suspects were taken to the local jail.
a town/city/county jail
He was held without bail for thirty days in the county jail.
a high-/top-/maximum-security jail
Some inmates at the high-security jail had been wrongfully imprisoned.
a jail sentence
He’s serving a 7-year jail sentence.
a jail term (=period of time in jail)
He served only half of his three-month jail term.
a jail cell
The suspect was found dead in his jail cell.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲