adjective
incarcerated
in-KAR-suh-ray-tid
Incarcerated (adjective) means Held in a prison or jail. Example: “He was incarcerated for eleven months before the case came to trial.”
adjective
1
Held in a prison or jail.
"He was incarcerated for eleven months before the case came to trial."
"Programmes exist to help incarcerated parents stay in touch with their children."
verb
1
Past tense and past participle of incarcerate, meaning to put someone in prison.
"The state incarcerated more people that decade than in the previous three."
"Thousands were incarcerated without charge."
How to use incarcerated
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishBeing locked up in prison.
When to use it
Formal; standard in legal, journalistic and academic writing.
Memory tip
Do not confuse incarcerate with interred, which means buried, or interned, which means detained without trial, usually in wartime.
Trace the full origin ↓
Easily confused with
Common pairings
wrongfully incarcerated
incarcerated population
currently incarcerated
mass incarceration
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He was _____ for eleven months before the case came to trial.
Etymology
From Medieval Latin incarcerare, formed from in- 'in' and carcer 'prison'.
Synonyms
View more →Antonyms
Related words
Rhymes for incarcerated
See all rhymes for incarcerated →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between incarcerated and imprisoned?
They mean the same thing, but incarcerated is the broader, more clinical term and covers jails, prisons and other forms of detention. Imprisoned is the plainer English word and usually implies a prison sentence specifically.
Why do people say 'incarcerated person' instead of 'prisoner'?
It is person-first language: it names the situation someone is in rather than defining them by it. Many news organisations and advocacy groups have adopted it deliberately, though 'prisoner' remains standard in legal writing.
What is the meaning of incarcerated?
"incarcerated" (adjective) means held in a prison or jail.
What is another word for incarcerated?
Other words for "incarcerated" include imprisoned, jailed, locked up, detained, confined.
