jails 1 of 2

noun

plural of jail
as in prisons
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody sentenced to three years in jail for his crime

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jails

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of jail
as in imprisons
to put in or as if in prison threatened to jail the punks if they so much as jaywalked

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of jails
Noun
When women tried to march for their rights, they were violently suppressed, and by 2023, nearly all those in Afghan jails were political prisoners, and many were tortured. — The Week Us, TheWeek, 31 Aug. 2026 Filling empty beds The national incarceration rate – which includes both jails, for short-term detention, and prisons, for sentences of more than a year – has more or less crept downward since 2010. — Ella Siegrist, The Conversation, 28 Aug. 2026 The gloves have been adopted in detention centers, law enforcement agencies and jails across the country, though apparently none in California. — Christopher Buchanan, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026 That’s the maximum amount of time that county jails like Pinellas’ can hold immigrants on behalf of ICE. — Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 27 Aug. 2026 They have been used by some local jails and police departments in recent years. — Ryan J. Foley, Chicago Tribune, 27 Aug. 2026 Of the more than $3 billion that Miami-Dade plans to collect in property taxes next year, roughly 70 cents of every dollar fund the county’s Sheriff’s Office, fire department, jails, roads and transit costs, and Jackson, the Herald analysis found. — Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 21 Aug. 2026
Verb
Only 65 people rebooked into those counties’ jails two or more times through June 2026 were eventually released on bond. — Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 27 Aug. 2026 The facility is one of 11 Kentucky jails that contract with ICE to detain people. — Monroe Trombly, Louisville Courier Journal, 24 Feb. 2026 China, which jails human rights activists in Hong Kong, persecutes Uyghurs, has killed hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and has committed genocide against the Falun Gong, is on the UN Human Rights Council. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026 The regime that jails children also profits from drugs, human trafficking, and online scams. — Kim Aris, Time, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for jails
  1. prisons
  2. imprisons
  3. penitentiaries
  4. incarcerates
Noun
  • Burnham also faces pressure over Britain’s overcrowded prisons.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Death by medical neglect in Belarusian prisons is well documented.
    — Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of prisons
Verb
  • The King imprisons the miller’s daughter in a room and orders her to prove her magical ability under pain of death.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
  • County leaders vowed to legally oppose the facility, pointing to county zoning laws that do not allow for detention centers or any type of facility that holds or imprisons people on county land.
    — Luis Melecio-Zambrano, Mercury News, 28 May 2026
Definition of imprisons
Noun
  • Hodge says he was abused in multiple federal penitentiaries, but was frequently blocked from filing complaints about it.
    — Christie Thompson, NPR, 13 July 2026
  • This includes providing the Colombian military more leeway in the field, signing a new security agreement with Washington and building 10 mega-prisons that mimic Bukele’s network of penitentiaries in El Salvador.
    — Daniel DePetris, Chicago Tribune, 2 June 2026
Definition of penitentiaries
Verb
  • Today, Rikers incarcerates approximately sixty-seven hundred people—most of whom are in pretrial detention, others who are serving terms of less than a year—in facilities that are within New York City while also being out of sight and largely out of reach.
    — Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 11 May 2026
Definition of incarcerates

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jails
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Cite this Entry

“Jails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/jails. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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