incarcerate

From Medieval Latin incarceratus, past participle of incarcerare (“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.

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

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

1. To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
   • 2013 September 23, Masha Gessen, "Life in a Russian Prison," 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.

As a Latinate term, somewhat formal, compared to imprison.

• imprison
• jail

• incarceration

• carceral
• carcerate
• decarcerate

• incarcerate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• incarcerate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

incarcerate

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

• accentrerai