POKEY Synonyms: 51 Similar and Opposite Words

pokey

noun

ˈpō-kē

Definition of pokey

slang

as in jail

a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody joked about the time he passed out on the street and woke up in the pokey

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 pokey Both systems made the GeForce RTX 40 GPUs in the Dell and MSI systems look a little pokey by comparison (though those systems are definitely no slouches, in a bigger-picture sense). — PC Magazine, 12 May 2025 Put the reader on (watch out for the surprisingly pokey earpieces at the ends of the arms), and those displays merge into a single 271 ppi E Ink display. — Anthony Karcz, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025 There are reasons people are afraid of the dentist; all of those pokey instruments going into soft, sensitive places. — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 14 Feb. 2025 Thirty-three years since its founder began cutting up fabrics in a pokey South London flat, the house of McQueen’s headquarters now inhabit a six-story, 30,000-square-foot building in London’s Clerkenwell. — Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for pokey

Recent Examples of Synonyms for pokey

Noun

He was given an option to bypass jail by paying a $250 fine and providing the filings within a week.

— Lucas Aulbach, Louisville Courier Journal, 4 Sep. 2026
Castro was released from a Texas jail last week after a judge declined to order his return to Minnesota.

— Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 4 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

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

Browse Nearby Words

pokes fun at

pokey

pokeys

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Pokey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pokey. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of pokey

noun

Example Sentences

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