imprisonment B2 Topic:Crime & Justice US /ˌɪmˈprɪzənmənt/ UK /ɪmˈpɹɪzn̩.mənt/ See IPA manual Freq #10829 Meanings 1 noun The punishment of being kept in prison. The judge sentenced him to five years' imprisonment. 2 noun The state of being confined or kept against your will. The hostages described their long imprisonment in a dark room. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · the punishment of being... incarceration 2 noun · the state of being confined... captivityincarceration Word family Forms imprisonments Common collocations life imprisonment Noun + noun Etymology AI details From Anglo-Norman emprisonement, from Old French emprisonnement. See imprison + -ment. emprisonement xno emprisonnement Old French View etymology graph -> Topics Crime & Justice External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # imprisonment **Type:** Word **Level:** B2 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˌɪmˈprɪzənmənt/ **IPA (UK):** /ɪmˈpɹɪzn̩.mənt/ **Frequency rank:** 10829 ## Meanings 1. The punishment of being kept in prison. 2. The state of being confined or kept against your will. ## Examples - The judge sentenced him to five years' imprisonment. - The hostages described their long imprisonment in a dark room. ## Roots and Affixes - Root: emprisonement - Root: emprisonnement ## Etymology From Anglo-Norman emprisonement, from Old French emprisonnement. See imprison + -ment. ## AI Etymology Imprisonment comes from Anglo-Norman emprisonement, from Old French emprisonnement. See imprison + -ment. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. In current use, the main senses are “The punishment of being kept in prison” and “The state of being confined or kept against your will”. ## Topics - Crime & Justice markdown