false imprisonment
8
7.3
- noun
- /fɔls ɪmˈprɪzənmənt/
- Specialized
:
detención ilegal
- In cases of false imprisonment, the victim may be entitled to seek compensation for their suffering.
- kidnapping or false imprisonment
Examples
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In 1997, a jury awarded that youth $850,000 for defamation and false imprisonment.
Academic text (2000) -
In other contexts, false imprisonment is considered the most grievous of wrongs.
Academic text (2000) -
Generally, false imprisonment is both a civil and criminal offense.
Blog text (3) -
False imprisonment is a crime, even if it is done by the state.
Blog text (3) -
If anything would hurt one's positive outlook, it would be false imprisonment in a South African prison.
Blog text (1) -
It chronicles a young girl's false imprisonment and unfair trial.
-
The allegations include fraud, false imprisonment, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Academic text (2001) -
The right to liberty includes liberty of the body—that is, freedom from slavery and false imprisonment—and liberty of the mind—that is, freedom of conscience, in spoken and written communications, and in association with others.
Academic text (2000) -
The victim of false imprisonment was finally freed after two weeks of being held against her will.
-
After reviewing the evidence, the jury found that false imprisonment had occurred during the incident.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is partly derivable from the constituents: 'false' modifies 'imprisonment' to indicate imprisonment that is wrong or unjust, so a learner who knows both words can infer something like 'wrongful or illegal confinement'. However, this is a legal term with a specific sense ('without legal authority or justification') and 'false' could be misinterpreted as 'not real' (a fake imprisonment), so the exact legal nuance is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
False imprisonment comes from law: imprisonment means being held or locked up, and false here means 'not lawful' or 'wrong'. So the picture is someone kept in a room or cell when there is no right to do that, and that's why it means 'illegal confinement'.