incarcerate

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
15
Words With Friends
18
Letters
11
Pronunciation
/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/ (UK)
See all 2 pronunciations
/ɪnˈkɑː.səˌɹeɪt/ (UK) · /ɪnˈkɑɹ.səˌɹeɪt/

Definition of incarcerate

3 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (US, transitive)To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
    “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.”
    “In 2021, a judge found that Angola was providing inadequate medical care to its incarcerated population.”
See all 3 definitions

verb

  1. (US, transitive)To lock away; to imprison, especially for breaking the law.
    “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.”
    “In 2021, a judge found that Angola was providing inadequate medical care to its incarcerated population.”
  2. (transitive)To confine; to shut up or enclose; to hem in.

adj

  1. (archaic, not-comparable, obsolete)Incarcerated: jailed, imprisoned, confined, shut in.
    “Tane and incarcerat, kepit heir an there”
    “Nor is that radiant force in humane kind / Extinguiſht quite, he that did them create / Can thoſe dull ruſty chains of ſleep unbind, / And rear the ſoul unto her ſristin ſtate: / He can them ſo inlarge and elevate / And ſpreaden out, that they can compaſſe all, / When they no longer be incarcerate / In this dark dungeon, this foul fleſhy wall, / Nor be no longer wedg’d in things corporeall: […]”
    “[…] Mr. Vanſe, Keeper of the Tolbooth, did give in a Bill, repreſenting, That there being ſo great a number of Priſoners, upon account of Conventicles, and for Criminal Cauſes, and the ſaid Captain being incarcerate, not for a Crime, but for not finding Caution, he was in bona fide not to look upon him as a Perſon that would eſcape: […]”
    “Being Incarcerat he put forth a Blaſphemous Paper, not only condemning all the work of Reformation, but alſo the Engliſh Bible in the form as it is now extant; […]”
    “THat where I being incarcerate within the ſaid Tolbooth, by Warrand of the Lord Juſtice Clerk, for the Crime of Murder alledged committed by me, […] humbly ſhewing, That where, he being incarcerate within the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, by Warrant of the Lord Juſtice Clerk, for the Crime of Muther committed by him, […]”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

The adjective is first attested in 1528, the verb in 1575; borrowed from Medieval Latin incarcerātus, perfect passive participle of incarcerō (“to imprison”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from Latin in- (“in”) + carcer (“a prison”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.

Words you can make from incarcerate

200+ playable · top: CERCARIAE (13 pts)

Best play cercariae 13 points

9-letter words

5 words

8-letter words

15 words

7-letter words

39 words

6-letter words

75 words

5-letter words

65 words

Hooks

2 extensions · 2 back

A single letter you can add to incarcerate to make another valid word.

Find your best play with incarcerate

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes incarcerate, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.