LOCKED (UP) Synonyms: 50 Similar and Opposite Words

locked (up)

verb

past tense of lock (up)

as in imprisoned

to put in or as if in prison if they catch you, they're going to lock you up and throw away the key!

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Recent Examples of Synonyms for locked (up)

Verb

Rebin Rahmani, a Kurdish activist once imprisoned in Iran and now living in Paris, said the theocracy under Khamenei lacked any answer to multiplying political and economic problems — except further repression.

— ABC News, ABC News, 9 July 2026
Jackson said that made his relationship to his country more complicated, especially after he was convicted on drug and weapons charges as a 21-year-old and imprisoned for over a year.

— Susan Bence, NPR, 4 July 2026

Definition of imprisoned

Verb

One of our young people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, interned at a company in their risk management department.

— Byron V. Garrett, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026
Truell, a New York City native, interned at Google, while Sanger, a member of MIT’s squash team, interned at Bridgewater Associates.

— Bloomberg, Mercury News, 17 June 2026

Definition of interned

Verb

The new restriction builds on an earlier Missouri law enacted in 2023 that prohibited the Department of Corrections from providing gender-transition surgeries to incarcerated people.

— Ben Wheeler, Kansas City Star, 8 July 2026
A lot of people that came here that were committing crimes have either been incarcerated or deported.

— Lauren Peller, ABC News, 8 July 2026

Definition of incarcerated

Verb

The financial-support trend isn’t confined to the youngest adults.

— Catherina Gioino, Fortune, 9 July 2026
As satellite arrays became larger and more efficient, and electronics more sophisticated, orbital nuclear power systems were largely confined to exploration missions to the outer Solar System by the 1990s.

— David Szondy July 07, New Atlas, 8 July 2026

Definition of confined

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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locked out

locked (up)

locker

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“Locked (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/locked%20%28up%29. Accessed 10 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of locked (up)

verb

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