imprison

CEFRC1

/ɪmˈpɹɪzən/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To put someone in prison or keep them confined.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To put in or as if in prison; confine somebody against their will.

Examples

  • Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself.

  • Tyrannical governments frequently imprison their political opponents.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
2
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

More examples

In context

  • None of these people has ever had what they really wanted, and if they get a glimmer of it, they back off suspiciously, failures of imagination helping to imprison them further.

  • One of the village's most notable sons was Thomas Grantham, a Baptist church leader born in 1634, who was persecuted and imprisoned in the struggle for nonconformist beliefs during the reign of Charles II.

  • [...] demand for the boots fell sharply after the Battle of Waterloo, and Brunel was imprisoned for debt in 1821.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

After a long trial, the court decided to blank the guilty man for ten years.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

Inherited from Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner. Equivalent to im- + prison.