LOCK (UP) Synonyms: 95 Similar and Opposite Words

lock (up) 1 of 2

verb

Definition of lock (up)

as in to jail

to put in or as if in prison if they catch you, they're going to lock you up and throw away the key!

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

lockup

2 of 2

noun

ˈläk-ˌəp

as in jail

a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody the firm conviction that juvenile offenders should never be held in adult lockups

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

outside

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 lock (up)

Noun

Yet for the insiders, the lockup expiry was more of a moment of pause. — Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 7 Aug. 2026 Typically, a company will instill a 180-day lockup period before pre-IPO shares become eligible to trade. — John Towfighi, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026 More than 911 million SpaceX shares held by early investors and employees became eligible for sale on Thursday as a lockup period for the stock expired. — ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026 The mechanics of that phase, lockups, secondary markets, continuation funds, and the pressure venture firms are under to finally return capital to their own investors, are becoming just as important to understand as the IPOs themselves. — Steven Dudash, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for lock (up)

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lock (up)

Verb

İmamoğlu was jailed and formally disqualified from public office.

— Nick TaborAll, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Sep. 2026
Many other leading activists were also jailed under the same law, including former media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

— ABC News, ABC News, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of jail

Noun

The jury did convict Rosado of driving under the influence and he was sentenced to five years in prison, but Rosado has been behind bars on a $2 million bail since 2021 so won't have to serve any additional time.

— Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2026
Over the course of Exile, one of Loktev’s subjects is poisoned; another receives a five-year prison sentence in absentia.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of prison

Verb

Home distillers can be fined $10,000 for every batch and imprisoned for up to five years.

— Maureen Groppe, USA Today, 30 Aug. 2026
She was imprisoned for four months in different facilities, where she was deprived of her medications, forced to stay awake, and convicted of falsified charges, according to the lawsuit.

— Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of imprison

Noun

Beginning in 1908, after federal prisons opened in Atlanta, Georgia, and Leavenworth, Kansas, most federal prisoners were sent to these new federal prisons, and cells began to empty at the West Virginia state penitentiary.

— Ella Siegrist, The Conversation, 28 Aug. 2026
Recent spike in inmate deaths at the penitentiary In fiscal year 2025 – July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025 – the DOC reported 19 deaths within its annual report, the most in a decade.

— TJ Rhodes, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of penitentiary

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locks (up)

lock (up)

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“Lock (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lock%20%28up%29. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of lock (up)

verb

noun

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