prison

A place where people are kept locked up, usually as punishment for a crime.

• His brother is in prison.
• The guards searched every prison cell.
• She was released from prison last year.

How to use it: in prison (He spent five years in prison.); send someone to prison (The judge sent him to prison.)

Similar words: jail

Common phrases: in prison, prison cell, go to prison

The experience or period of being kept locked up as punishment.

• Prison changed his life.
• She faces prison for stealing the money.
• He hoped to avoid prison.

Similar words: imprisonment, incarceration

Opposites: freedom

Common phrases: face prison, avoid prison, prison sentence

A situation or place that makes you feel unable to escape or live freely.

• Fear had become her prison.
• He felt trapped in a prison of memories.
• Her loneliness was a prison without walls.

How to use it: a prison of something (He lived in a prison of fear.)

Similar words: trap

Common phrases: prison of fear, prison of loneliness, prison of something, feel like prison