Imprisonable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The ability to be detained in a correctional facility due to one's actions or legal status is present in certain individuals
2. Subject to confinement or detention under legal authority due to actions or status
3. Having the quality that allows for being held or locked up by judicial or official order

Etymology: "Imprisonable" is a plain formation: the verb "imprison" with the suffix "-able" added, meaning capable of being imprisoned or liable to imprisonment. The verb itself came into English in the Middle English period from Old French "emprisonner," which was built on "prison," a word ultimately tracing back to Latin "prehensio," a seizing or taking hold, from "prehendere," to grasp. So the core idea behind the family is physical grasping: a prison was originally a place where one was seized and held. The suffix tells the rest of the story. "-able" passed into English through Old French from Latin "-abilis," and it was attached to English verbs freely, so that "imprisonable" could be formed as a new adjective whenever someone needed to describe a person or offence that the law allowed to be confined. The adjective is therefore a later, transparent combination of two existing English parts rather than a word with its own separate history.

Synonyms: detainable, incarcerable

Antonyms: free, releaseable