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Glite Dictionary
to put behind bars

to put behind bars

26 4.3
Send a person to prison as punishment
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : encarcelar
  • If you break the law, you might be put behind bars for a long time.

It was about putting the right person behind bars on a felony.

Examples

  • Now put him behind bars until you hear from me.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Or do we put people behind bars simply to make all the rest of us safe?

  • If you are put behind bars, who will feed your dog

    It's Our Game: Team Canada's Victory at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey (2004)

  • The sooner we put you all behind bars, the better.

    The Thief Lord (2006)

  • If you break the law in my city, I'll do all everything in my power to hunt you down and put you behind bars.

    Showtime (2002)

  • The next time this happens, they're gonna put you behind bars.

    Stream (2024)

  • If so, can he be prosecuted and put behind bars?

    Academic text (2007)

  • He's determined to put you behind bars.

    Fashions of 1934 (1934)

  • They need to be charged with fraud and hopefully put behind bars.

    Blog text (23)

  • If progressives made it part of our cause, we could do a world of good at protecting innocent kids and putting their abusers behind bars.

    Blog text (6)

Synonyms

to imprison
vsto put behind bars
  • Formal
178 4.2

Put someone in prison as a punishment or keep them locked up

is the informal everyday way to describe that legal confinement
to put away
vsto put behind bars
115 5.8

To lock someone in prison or a secure place

is the direct phrase used when referring to sending someone to prison
to jail
vsto put behind bars
108 2.1

To put someone in prison as punishment

is the common everyday phrase for sending someone to prison
to remand
vsto put behind bars
  • Jargon
25 8.5

To put someone back in custody until their next hearing

refers to sentencing someone to prison rather than temporary pretrial custody
to incarcerate
vsto put behind bars
  • Formal
18 8.4

To put someone in prison and keep them there

is the more general everyday phrasing rather than formal legal language
to immure
vsto put behind bars
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To lock someone inside a room or building against their will

is specifically about legal imprisonment in the justice system
to gaol
vsto put behind bars
  • Archaic
9.9

To put someone in prison as punishment

is the common everyday phrase for sending someone to prison
to jug
vsto put behind bars
  • Archaic
9.9

To put someone in jail

is the neutral standard expression rather than informal slang
to lag
vsto put behind bars
  • Archaic
9.9

To put someone in jail

is the current neutral phrase rather than an archaic slang term

Antonyms

release
279 1.8

An act of letting someone or something go free from being held

How Imprisoned

to put behind bars
26 4.3
to lock up
300 4.0
arrest
∞ 2.7
to detain
  • Formal
169 5.9

Surface Forms

put behind bars infinitive
put behind bars past
put behind bars past participle
putting behind bars present participle
puts behind bars third person singular

Morphology

put + behind + bars

The phrase directly composes 'put' (place), 'behind' (at the rear of) and 'bars' (metal rods), so a learner who knows those words can picture placing someone behind metal bars and infer imprisonment. This image-based locative composition is common cross-linguistically and follows a straightforward compositional pattern, making the idiom readily understandable to B1 learners.

Etymology

Put behind bars comes from the simple image of being put behind metal bars of a prison cell. So, it means 'to send someone to prison'.