prison

UK: /ˈprɪz^ən/ US: /ˈprɪzən/ ,(priz′ən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

pris•on /ˈprɪzən/   n. 

1. [countable] a place for keeping people accused of a crime and awaiting trial, or for keeping prisoners.
2. imprisonment:
   [uncountable] thirty years in prison.
3. [countable] any place or state of confinement.

See -pris-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

pris•on  (priz′ən), n. 

1. a building for the confinement of persons held while awaiting trial, persons sentenced after conviction, etc.
2. See state prison. 
3. any place of confinement or involuntary restraint.
4. imprisonment.

• Latin pre(hē)nsiōn- (stem of prehēnsiō) a seizure, arrest, equivalent. to prehēns(us) (past participle of prehendere to seize) + -iōn- -ion; doublet of prehension
• Old French, variant of preson imprisonment, a prison
• Middle English prison, earlier prisun bef. 1150

pris′on•like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

prison / ˈprɪz^ən/ noun

1. a public building used to house convicted criminals and accused persons remanded in custody and awaiting trial
   See also jail, penitentiary, reformatory
2. any place of confinement or seeming confinement

Etymology: 12th Century: from Old French prisun, from Latin prēnsiō a capturing, from prehendere to lay hold of