Link Centre Dictionary

incarcerate

in·car·ce·rate

UK/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/ US/ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/ uncommon archaic obsolete us

verb

1.

lock up or confine, in or as in a jail

  • “The suspects were imprisoned without trial”
  • “the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.