jail
Americannoun
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jails
plural
verb (used with object)
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jails,
present (3rd person singular)
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jailed,
past participle, past
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jailing
present participle
noun
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a place for the confinement of persons convicted and sentenced to imprisonment or of persons awaiting trial to whom bail is not granted
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informal to get out of a difficult situation
verb
Usage
What is a basic definition of jail? A jail is a building that houses prisoners and people accused of crimes, especially minor crimes. Jail also means to imprison for committing a crime or to lawfully detain a person. A jail is a building where criminals or people accused of crimes are housed. Jails are usually small buildings that keep prisoners only until they go to trial or for criminals with short punishments. Typically, a prisoner only spends around 90 days in a jail. A person accused of a more serious crime may be kept in a jail until their trial or until they are transferred to a larger facility. The phrase “in jail” often means a person is spending time in a jail. A person who manages a jail or puts a person in a jail is called a jailer.
- Real-life examples: In the United States, jails are usually managed at the local level, such as by a town or county. A person who commits a minor offense such as being drunk in public or trespassing may be sentenced to spend time in a county jail.
- Used in a sentence: After a wild night, the partygoers woke up the next morning in the city jail.
- Real-life examples: If a person is arrested by police, they are usually jailed until they are taken to trial. Depending on the judge’s ruling, they may be jailed again as punishment for a crime.
- Used in a sentence: The police quickly jailed the men who were caught trying to steal a car.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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rejailverb (used with object)
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jail-likeadjective
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jailableadjective
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jaillessadjective
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jaillikeadjective
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nonjailableadjective
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unjailedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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jailsimple
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jailssimple
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have jailedperfect
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has jailedperfect
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am jailingprogressive
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are jailingprogressive
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is jailingprogressive
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have been jailingperfect progressive
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has been jailingperfect progressive
Past
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jailedsimple
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had jailedperfect
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was jailingprogressive
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were jailingprogressive
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had been jailingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of jail
1225–75; Middle English gaiole, jaiole, jaile < Old North French gaiole, Old French jaiole cage < Vulgar Latin *gaviola, variant of *caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea cage; see -ole 1
Explanation
A jail is a place where people are confined while they're being punished for a crime. If you end up getting a mug shot and put behind bars, chances are you are In jail. To arrest someone and put them in a jail cell is to jail them. Jail prisoners are often simply waiting for their trials — they've been charged with a crime, but they haven't yet been found to be guilty (or innocent). Jail was originally spelled gayhol, and in Britain it's also spelled gaol. This can be traced back to the Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola and the Latin cavea, "cage or enclosure."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
According to jail records, Bryski was arrested at 8:40 p.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The 66-year-old had twice failed to get himself arrested so he could spend the night in jail before finally succeeding by sounding off about Erdogan in a park in the Mediterranean resort of Alanya.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
He was booked into jail shortly before 6 a.m.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
A defence barrister also outlined that Corrigan had already spent 10 months in jail and that he suffered from ill health, including prostate cancer.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
In August 1944, Dickinson was sentenced to ten years of jail time.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
As of last Friday, there were 87,499 people in 120 jails across England and Wales - with around 1,500 available beds.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
About 700 eligible offenders will leave jails in England and Wales on 1 October while some 2,550 are due to be released by the end of the year, under the government's early prison release plan.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
It marks the latest in a string of both federal and state investigations in the last few decades of the Sheriff’s Department and problems in the jails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
In March, Luna also reached out to the National Institute of Corrections to examine conditions at Los Angeles County jails after a rash of in-custody jail deaths.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Built jails to dwell on and hold on to its own private decay.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
In August 2022, Garza was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered to be jailed until a bed in a state mental health treatment facility was available.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2026
They held up photos of jailed journalists, chanting: "We will not be silenced. Enough is enough!" and "We will not bow to pressure".
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2026
While Rincón remains jailed, Venezuelan authorities continue to court investors for the industry he had dominated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Former Merseyside PC Ryan Theaker was jailed earlier this month for 11 years.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Suspected of disloyalty to the Union, federal forces arrested and jailed him for months at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
The NCA said a "number of key suppliers" had also been targeted, including the jailing of Adem Savas who reportedly supplied equipment used in about half of all crossings in 2023.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Despite his jailing, Khan remains a significant presence in Pakistani politics with a large number of supporters.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
While the criminal justice system has made significant progress in recent years in prosecuting and jailing criminal groomers, she believes convictions alone cannot answer the deeper questions now facing the inquiry.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, is on trial for incitement over social media posts following her father's jailing in July 2021 which sparked unrest that claimed more than 350 lives.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
However, both saw promise in the dramatic arrest, jailing, and trial of a fifteen-year-old bus protester.
From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose
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