prison house
1
4.6
- noun
- /ˈprɪzən haʊs/
:
prisión
- Was there a prison house in Benghazi?
Examples
-
After serving his sentence, he was finally released from the prison house and could return to his family.
-
It may already be evident that the other main road out of the sanctuary or prison house for the reader of Beeton is the road of political economy.
Academic text (1997) -
The new security measures were implemented to ensure that no one could escape from the prison house.
-
The prison house was built to hold those who broke the law and needed to be punished.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A building where people are kept as punishment or while waiting for trial
∞
1.0
A building where people are kept as punishment or while waiting for their trial
42
4.1
A building where police keep people who are waiting for trial or serving a sentence
27
4.3
A prison run by a state government for people found guilty of serious crimes
26
5.3
A camp where guards keep people against their will, often during war
10
4.2
A building like a prison where people are kept as punishment and given training
7
8.2
A place, often on an island, where the government keeps people sent there for crimes and they cannot leave
2
4.9
A place where people who broke the law are kept as punishment or while they wait for trial
1
6.3
A place like a prison where people are kept as punishment for crimes
1
6.8
A place in the countryside where people who broke the law live and work on farms
1
7.7
A place where young people who broke the law are kept by the court for a short time
1
6.0
A building that holds people as punishment for crimes to protect the public
1
9.8
A place where people were kept for minor crimes in the past
How Secure
- Specialized
12
7.9
- US
73
7.9
1
4.6
∞
1.0
- UK
36
4.6
33
4.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly built from 'prison' (a place that restricts freedom) + 'house' (a building), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a building or situation that feels like a prison. This is a regular compositional pattern (literal or straightforwardly metaphorical) and is cross‑linguistically common, making it transparent to learners.
Etymology
Prison house comes from the plain idea of a prison as a kind of house for people who break the law; imagine locked doors, bars on the windows and guards. That's why it means 'a building where people are kept as punishment'.