incarcerate

English

Alternative forms

• encarcerate

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1575; borrowed from Medieval Latin incarcerātus, perfect passive participle of incarcerō (“to imprison”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin in- (“in”) + carcer (“a prison”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

incarcerate (third-person singular simple present incarcerates, present participle incarcerating, simple past and past participle incarcerated)

1. (chiefly US, transitive) To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.

   Synonyms: imprison, jail

   • 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, “Life in a Russian Prison”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 7 December 2022, retrieved 24 September 2013:

     Tolokonnikova has also been an effective public speaker even while incarcerated, but she has spoken out on politics and freedom in general rather than prisoners’ rights.

   • 2025 September 3, Hannah Rabinowitz, Devon M. Sayers, “Trump administration to open new ICE facility at notorious Louisiana prison”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     In 2021, a judge found that Angola was providing inadequate medical care to its incarcerated population.

2. (transitive) To confine; to shut up or enclose; to hem in.

Usage notes

• As a Latinate term, somewhat formal, compared to imprison. However, the term is, even in casual settings, used chiefly and frequently in the United States.

Derived terms

• disincarcerate
• incarcerable
• incarceration
• incarcerator
• nonincarcerated
• overincarcerate
• overincarcerated
• reincarcerate
• unincarcerated

Related terms

• cancel
• cancer
• carceral
• carcerate
• chancel
• decarcerate

Translations

to lock away in prison

• Armenian: բանտարկել (hy) (bantarkel)
• Bulgarian: хвърлям в затвора (hvǎrljam v zatvora)
• Catalan: empresonar (ca), encarcerar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 監禁 / 监禁 (zh) (jiānjìn), 禁閉 / 禁闭 (zh) (jìnbì)

• Czech: věznit (cs)
• Danish: indespære, fængsle (da)
• Dutch: opsluiten (nl), gevangenzetten (nl)
• Finnish: vangita (fi)
• French: incarcérer (fr), imprisonner
• German: einsperren (de)
• Greek: φυλακίζω (el) (fylakízo)
• Hungarian: bebörtönöz (hu)
• Irish: cuir i ngéibheann
• Italian: incarcerare (it), imprigionare (it)
• Japanese: 投獄する (ja) (とうごくする, tōgoku suru)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zîndan kirin (ku), hefs kirin (ku)

• Latin: ^{(please verify)} incarcerare, ^{(please verify)} in carcerem conjicere
• Māori: mauhere, whakaherehere
• Occitan: encarcerar (oc)
• Polish: uwięzić (pl)
• Portuguese: prender (pt), encarcerar, aprisionar (pt)
• Romanian: încarcera (ro), închide (ro)
• Russian: заключа́ть в тюрьму́ impf (zaključátʹ v tjurʹmú), заключи́ть в тюрьму́ pf (zaključítʹ v tjurʹmú)
• Spanish: encarcelar (es)
• Swedish: inspärra (sv)
• Thai: จำคุก (jam-kúk)
• Turkish: hapsetmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: увʼязнювати impf (uvʺjaznjuvaty)

to confine

• Bulgarian: затварям (bg) (zatvarjam)
• Dutch: intomen (nl)
• Greek: φυλακίζω (el) (fylakízo)
• Italian: imprigionare (it)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zîndan kirin (ku), hefs kirin (ku), desteser kirin (ku), girtin (ku)

• Turkish: hapsetmek (tr), sınırlamak (tr)

Adjective

incarcerate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete as a participle, archaic as a participial adjective) Incarcerated: jailed, imprisoned, confined, shut in.
   • 1583, Preface to The Legend of the Bishop St Androis Lyfe:

     Tane and incarcerat, kepit heir an there

   • 1642, H[enry] M[ore], “ΨΥΧΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΑ [Psychathanasia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Poem of the Immortality of Souls, Especially Mans Soul”, in ΨΥΧΩΔΙΑ [Psychōdia] Platonica: Or A Platonicall Song of the Soul, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel, printer to the Universitie, →OCLC, book 1, canto 2, stanza 20, page 13:

     Nor is that radiant force in humane kind / Extinguiſht quite, he that did them create / Can thoſe dull ruſty chains of ſleep unbind, / And rear the ſoul unto her ſristin ſtate: / He can them ſo inlarge and elevate / And ſpreaden out, that they can compaſſe all, / When they no longer be incarcerate / In this dark dungeon, this foul fleſhy wall, / Nor be no longer wedg’d in things corporeall: […]

   • 1698, John Nisbet of Dirleton, Some Doubts & Questions, in the Law; Especially of Scotland. As Also, Some Decisions of the Lords of Council and Session: […], Edinburgh: […] George Mosman, […], page 146:

     […] Mr. Vanſe, Keeper of the Tolbooth, did give in a Bill, repreſenting, That there being ſo great a number of Priſoners, upon account of Conventicles, and for Criminal Cauſes, and the ſaid Captain being incarcerate, not for a Crime, but for not finding Caution, he was in bona fide not to look upon him as a Perſon that would eſcape: […]

   • 1707, [James Renwick], An Informatory Vindication of a Poor, Wasted, Misrepresented, Remnant of the Suffering, Anti-Popish, Anti-Prelatick, Anti-Erastian, Anti-Sectarian, True Presbyterian Church of Christ in Scotland: […], page 14:

     Being Incarcerat he put forth a Blaſphemous Paper, not only condemning all the work of Reformation, but alſo the Engliſh Bible in the form as it is now extant; […]

   • 1732, John Louthian, The Form of Process before the Court of Justiciary in Scotland; Containing the Constitution of the Sovereign Criminal Court, and the Way and Manner of Their Procedure: […], Edinburgh: […] Robert Fleming and Company, for William Hamilton, […], pages 71 and 73:

     THat where I being incarcerate within the ſaid Tolbooth, by Warrand of the Lord Juſtice Clerk, for the Crime of Murder alledged committed by me, […] humbly ſhewing, That where, he being incarcerate within the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, by Warrant of the Lord Juſtice Clerk, for the Crime of Muther committed by him, […]

   • 1833, Joseph P. Bartrum, The Psalms, Newly Paraphrased for the Service of the Sanctuary. […], Boston, Mass.: Russell, Odiorne, and Company, page 76:

     While incarcerate below, / Prayer with every breath shall flow; / Praise, expiring on my tongue, / Live anew in holier song, / Where my soul, its trial past, / Perfect joy shall reap at last!

Further reading

• “incarcerate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “incarcerate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Italian

Verb

incarcerate

1. inflection of incarcerare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative
   3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

• accentrerai