Origin: Latin suffix -ment
Imprisonment has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
putting someone in prison or in jail as lawful punishment
"The judge sentenced him to five years of imprisonment after he was found guilty of fraud."
the state of being imprisoned
"he was held in captivity until he died"
"the imprisonment of captured soldiers"
"his ignominious incarceration in the local jail"
"he practiced the immurement of his enemies in the castle dungeon"
the act of confining someone in a prison (or as if in a prison)
"The judge sentenced him to ten years of imprisonment after he was found guilty of arson."
A confinement in a place, especially a prison or a jail, as punishment for a crime.
"The judge sentenced him to five years of imprisonment for stealing from the convenience store."
In plain English: Imprisonment is when someone is locked up and forced to stay inside a jail cell as punishment for breaking the law.
"The long imprisonment took its toll on his health while he waited for trial."
Usage: Use imprisonment to refer specifically to the state of being confined in a penal institution rather than general detention or house arrest. It functions only as a noun and should not be confused with the verb imprison when describing the act of locking someone up.
The word imprisonment entered English through the path of Anglo-Norman and then Old French as a noun form related to "imprison." It was created by adding the suffix "-ment" to indicate the state or action of being imprisoned, rather than referring to an object like some other words ending in -ment.