1
: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
specifically
: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (such as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes compare prison
2
: confinement in a jail
sentenced to jail
Synonyms
Examples of jail in a Sentence
Noun
He was locked up in the county jail.
He was arrested and sent to jail.
He went to jail for his crimes.
He just got out of jail a few weeks ago.
He was kept in jail overnight.
Verb
threatened to jail the punks if they so much as jaywalked
Recent Examples on the Web
Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering, 1 July 2024
Naloxone, the medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose, being provided in L.A. County jails and handed out freely on the streets.
—Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2024
Anastacia Galouchka, Washington Post, 16 June 2024
By the end, Martha, who had already served a four-and-a-half-year jail term for a previous stalking conviction, is jailed for nine months.
—Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for jail 
Noun
He was picked up and had to spend the night in jail, his fingerprints and DNA sample were also collected.
—Abhishek Bhardwaj, Interesting Engineering, 1 July 2024
Naloxone, the medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose, being provided in L.A. County jails and handed out freely on the streets.
—Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2024
Verb
More than 2,750 men have been released from Ukrainian prisons since the parliament adopted a law in May authorizing certain convicts to enlist, including those jailed for dealing drugs, stealing phones and committing armed assaults and murders, among other serious crimes.
—Anastacia Galouchka, Washington Post, 16 June 2024
By the end, Martha, who had already served a four-and-a-half-year jail term for a previous stalking conviction, is jailed for nine months.
—Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for jail
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'jail.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near jail
Cite this Entry
“Jail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jail. Accessed 4 Jul. 2024.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
jail
noun
: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
specifically
: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crimes compare house of correction, house of detention, lockup, penitentiary, prison
jail
transitive verb
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