Imprisoned

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɪmˈpɹɪzənd/

Definitions

1. Kept locked up within a prison or jail as a punishment or legal consequence
2. Held under confinement in a correctional facility preventing free movement
3. Detained in a jail or prison to restrict personal liberty due to legal reasons

Etymology: Imprisoned is simply the past tense and past participle of "imprison", so its story is really the story of that verb. The verb came into English in the Middle Ages from Old French "emprisonner", which was built from "en-", meaning "in", and "prison". Middle English writers used forms such as "emprisonen" and "emprisounen" before the spelling settled into the "im-" form we use today, which matches the Latin prefix "in-" that the French word had absorbed. The noun "prison" itself has a longer and more physical past. It descends from Latin "prehensio", a "seizing" or "taking hold", from "prehendere", "to grasp". The idea was of being caught and held, and that grasping sense remains at the heart of the family of words, so a prisoner was originally someone who had been seized.

Synonyms: incarcerated, detained, confined, locked up, held captive

Antonyms: freed, released, liberated, emancipated, unconfined