Other forms: imprisoned, imprisoning, imprisons
To imprison is to shut somebody up in a prison. Imprison the leader, wrongly imprisoned, imprisoned for life.
It is the formal verb, used in law and journalism where jail is the plainer word. False imprisonment is a separate civil wrong and does not need a prison at all: preventing somebody from leaving a room is enough.
1verbimprisonTo shut somebody up in a prison.
“The government imprisoned journalists who criticised the president.”
imprison is a confining.
Old French emprisonner, from em- plus prison, from Latin prehensio, a seizing.
Old French
emprisonner
Middle English
imprisonen
English, today
imprison
From Middle English imprisonen, from emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner. Middle English imprisonen, emprisounen, emprisonen, from Old French emprisonner. Equivalent to im- + prison.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA