incarcerate

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English

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Etymology

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From Medieval Latin incarcerātus, past participle of incarcerō (to imprison), from Latin in- (in) + carcer (a prison), meaning "put behind lines (bars)" – Latin root is of a lattice or grid. Related to cancel (cross out with lines) and chancel (area behind a lattice). See also carcerate and cancer.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Verb

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

  1. (chiefly US) To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
    • 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, “Life in a Russian Prison”, in New York Times, 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.
  2. To confine; to shut up or enclose; to hem in.

Usage notes

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  • 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.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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incarcerate (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Incarcerated.
    • 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

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Italian

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Verb

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incarcerate

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

Anagrams

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