imprisonment Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment
  2. noun the state of being imprisoned
    immurement; incarceration; captivity.
    • he was held in captivity until he died
    • the imprisonment of captured soldiers
    • his ignominious incarceration in the local jail
    • he practiced the immurement of his enemies in the castle dungeon
  3. noun the act of confining someone in a prison (or as if in a prison)
    internment.

WordNet

Im*pris"on ment noun
Etymology
OE. enprisonment; F. emprisonnement.
Definitions
  1. The act of imprisoning, or the state of being imprisoned; confinement; restraint.
    His sinews waxen weak and raw Through long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser.
    Every confinement of the person is an imprisonment, whether it be in a common prison, or in a private house, or even by foreibly detaining one in the public streets. Blackstone.
    Syn. -- Incarceration; custody; confinement; durance; restraint.

Webster 1913