imprison
/ɪmˈprɪzn/ (bre, ipa) · /ɪmˈprɪzn/ (ame, ipa) · /im-ˈpri-zᵊn/ (ame, mw)
imprison — verb
- imprisonpresent simple I / you / we / they
- imprisonshe / she / it
- imprisonedpast simple
- imprisoning-ing form
1. to keep someone locked inside a prison as a legal punishment for breaking the la
to keep someone locked inside a prison as a legal punishment for breaking the law
The judge imprisoned Devika for five years after she was found guilty of fraud.
passive: be imprisoned for [crime/duration]
During the war, many journalists were imprisoned without ever being put on trial.
passive: be imprisoned without [due process]
The new law allows courts to imprison drivers who cause serious accidents while drunk.
Ignacio spent nearly a decade imprisoned on a remote island for speaking against the regime.
Eitan was imprisoned in a tiny cell with barely enough room to lie down.
- jail
less formal and more common in everyday speech; can also function as a noun
- incarcerate
more formal and technical, often used in legal documents
- lock up
informal phrasal verb; suggests immediate, concrete action
文法句型
imprison + object
be imprisoned for + crime/duration
用法筆記
Frequently used in the passive voice, especially when the authority doing the imprisoning is obvious or unnamed. The active subject is typically a court, judge, or legal system.
常見錯誤
2. to limit someone's freedom so severely that they feel trapped, especially within
to limit someone's freedom so severely that they feel trapped, especially within a small space or a difficult situation
Nora felt imprisoned in her home by parents who never let her go out alone.
feel imprisoned + in [place] + by [person]
The heavy snowstorm left the villagers imprisoned in their houses for almost a week.
passive: be imprisoned in [place] by [force of nature]
Shirin felt imprisoned by the endless routine of cooking, cleaning, and caring for small children.
Haruto was imprisoned in a job that gave him no room to learn or grow.
The school's narrow rules imprisoned the children's natural curiosity rather than encouraging it.
文法句型
feel imprisoned + by/in + noun phrase
be imprisoned + in + place/situation
用法筆記
Often used with 'feel' to describe a subjective experience of confinement. The agent may be a person, a situation, a set of rules, or a physical condition — unlike sense 1, where the agent is a legal authority.