con·fine·ment

[kuhn-fahyn-muhnt]
noun
1.
the act of confining.
2.
the state of being confined.
3.
the lying-in of a woman in childbed; accouchement; childbirth.
4.
Military. incarceration in a guardhouse or prison while awaiting trial or as a punishment ( distinguished from arrest ).
Origin:
1640–50; confine + -ment; compare French confinement

Related forms
non·con·fine·ment, noun
post·con·fine·ment, noun
pre·con·fine·ment, noun
self-con·fine·ment, noun
sem·i·con·fine·ment, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To confinement
00:10
Confinement is always a great word to know.
So is confess. Does it mean:
to change a penalty to a less severe one
to own or admit as true:
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Collins
World English Dictionary
confinement (kənˈfaɪnmənt) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  the act of confining or the state of being confined
2.  the period from the onset of labour to the birth of a child
3.  physics another name for containment

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

confinement
1590s, from Fr. confinement (16c.), from confiner (see confine). As a euphemism for "childbed" it dates from 1774 (the M.E. expression was Our Lady's bands).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

confinement con·fine·ment (kən-fīn'mənt)
n.

  1. The act of restricting or the state of being restricted in movement.

  2. Lying-in.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
In prisons, solitary confinement is used as punishment.
The alternatives to over-structured activity are confinement in an apartment or
  playing in traffic.
When they need police to keep the peace you know this is forcible confinement.
Many companies are getting around cubicle confinement problems by ditching the
  cube entirely.
Image for confinement
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