Thesaurus:jail

Thesaurus

jail

English

Noun

Sense: a place where a person convicted or suspected of a crime is detained

Synonyms

Note: many terms are often or only used with the in front.

• big house (the)
• borstal
• bridewell
• brig (the)
• calaboose (US, Australia)
• can
• chokey, choky (UK)
• clink (the)
• correctional facility
• correctional institution
• crowbar hotel
• detention centre
• dungeon
• gaol
• glasshouse
• graybar hotel (the)
• guardhouse (the)
• gulag
• hock
• hole    [⇒ thesaurus] (the)
• honor farm
• hoosegow (the)
• house of detention
• iron house
• jail
• jailhouse
• joint    [⇒ thesaurus]
• jug
• juvenile hall
• juvie
• lockup
• nigger university (slang, vulgar, offensive)
• nick
• pen    [⇒ thesaurus] (the)
• penal colony
• penitentiary
• pokey (the)
• porridge (UK)
• prison    [⇒ thesaurus]
• prison camp
• prison farm
• prison hulk
• prison ship
• queer ken (UK cant, Polari)
• remand center
• roundhouse
• slammer (the)
• slam (the)
• stalag
• stir
• stockade (the)
• tronk (South Africa)
• up the river
• workhouse
• Alcatraz
• Attica
• Bastille (the)
• Dartmoor
• Devil's Island
• Folsom
• Hanoi Hilton (the)
• Leavenworth
• Lefortovo
• Maze
• Pelican Bay
• San Quentin
• Sing Sing
• Tower (the)

Meronyms

• bar
• cell    [⇒ thesaurus]
• cellblock
• death row
• gate
• solitary
• solitary confinement
• wall
• ward
• yard

People

• can (the)
• chaplain
• con
• convict
• corrections officer
• criminal    [⇒ thesaurus]
• detainee
• inmate
• jailbird
• jailer
• prison guard
• prison matron
• screw
• trusty
• turnkey
• warden
• warder
• wardress

Various

• chain gang
• furlough
• parole

See also

• Thesaurus:prisoner
• Thesaurus:imprison

Further reading

• “752. prison” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.
• “jail” in Moby Thesaurus II, Grady Ward, 1996.