Meanings
plural inmates
- A person who shares a residence (such as a hotel guest, a lodger, or a student living on campus), or other place.
[T]he inmates of the coach, by numerous hard, painful joltings, and ponderous, dragging trundlings, are suddenly made sensible of some great change in the character of the road.
1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XVI. First Night of Their Arrival in the City.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section I, pages 312–3131 more example
I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts. Not ignoring what is good, I am quick to perceive a horror, and could still be social with it—would they let me—since it is but well to be on friendly terms with all the inmates of the place one lodges in.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC - uncommonSynonym of passenger, a person held or riding within a vehicle.
1 more example
P. della Valle writes in the same strain: "And these two, the palankins and the andors [a kind of doli] also differ from one another, for in the andor the cane which sustains it is, as it is in the reti, straight; whereas in the palankin, for the greater convenience of the inmate, and to give more room for raising his head, the cane is arched upwards like this, _∩_..."
1916 July, Henry Yule & al., "Padre Maestro Fray Seb. Manrique in Bengal (1628–Sept. 11, 1629)", Bengal Past & Present, Vol. XIII, No. 25, p. 32Synonyms: passenger
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of passenger, a person held or riding within a vehicle.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna patient who is residing in the hospital where they are being treated
nouna person serving a sentence in a jail or prison
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From inn + -mate, or from in- + -mate.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic سَجِين m سَجِينَة, نَزِيل m نَزِيلَة
- سَجِين m سَجِينَة (sajīn)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- نَزِيل m نَزِيلَة (nazīl)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- سَاكِن (sākin)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- سَاكِنَة (sākina)one who occupies a dwelling-house
Bulgarian обита́тел, обита́телка
- обита́тел (obitátel)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- обита́телка (obitátelka)one who occupies a dwelling-house
Catalan intern, resident
- internone confined to institution, such as a prison
- residentone who occupies a dwelling-house
Chinese Mandarin 囚犯, 病人
- 囚犯 (qiúfàn)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- 病人 (bìngrén)one confined to institution, such as a prison
Czech vězeň, chovanec
- vězeňone confined to institution, such as a prison
- chovanecone confined to institution, such as a prison
- pacientone confined to institution, such as a prison
Dutch gedetineerde, gevangene
- gedetineerdeone confined to institution, such as a prison
- gevangeneone confined to institution, such as a prison
Esperanto enfermito, kaptito
- enfermitoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- kaptitoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- malliberuloone confined to institution, such as a prison
- prizonuloone confined to institution, such as a prison
Finnish vanki
- vankione confined to institution, such as a prison
French détenu, détenue
- détenuone confined to institution, such as a prison
- détenueone confined to institution, such as a prison
- codétenuone confined to institution, such as a prison
- codétenueone confined to institution, such as a prison
- résidentone who occupies a dwelling-house
- résidenteone who occupies a dwelling-house
- pensionnaireone who occupies a dwelling-house
German Insasse, Insassin
- Insasseone confined to institution, such as a prison
- Insassinone confined to institution, such as a prison
- Bewohnerone who occupies a dwelling-house
- Bewohnerinone who occupies a dwelling-house
Greek τρόφιμος
- τρόφιμος (trófimos)one confined to institution, such as a prison
Hindi भीतरिया, साकिन
- भीतरिया (bhītriyā)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- साकिन (sākin)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- सहनिवासी (sahnivāsī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- अन्तःवासी (antaḥvāsī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- सहवासी (sahvāsī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- सहवर्ती (sahvartī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- निवासी (nivāsī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- वासी (vāsī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- संवासी (samvāsī)one who occupies a dwelling-house
Italian detenuto, internato
- detenutoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- internatoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- prigionieroone confined to institution, such as a prison
- internoone who occupies a dwelling-house
- residenteone who occupies a dwelling-house
Polish więzień, więźniarka
- więzieńone confined to institution, such as a prison
- więźniarkaone confined to institution, such as a prison
- współmieszkaniecone who occupies a dwelling-house
Portuguese interno
- internoone confined to institution, such as a prison
Russian заключённый, заключённая
- заключённый (zaključónnyj)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- заключённая (zaključónnaja)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- пацие́нт (pacién)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- пацие́нтка (paciéntka)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- жи́тель (žítelʹ)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- жи́тельница (žítelʹnica)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- обита́тель (obitátelʹ)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- обита́тельница (obitátelʹnica)one who occupies a dwelling-house
Slovak väzeň, chovanec
- väzeňone confined to institution, such as a prison
- chovanecone confined to institution, such as a prison
- pacientone confined to institution, such as a prison
Spanish internado, interno
- internadoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- internoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- presoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- reclusoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- presidiarioone confined to institution, such as a prison
- reoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- convictoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- detenidoone confined to institution, such as a prison
- residenteone who occupies a dwelling-house
Turkish mukim, yusufiyeli
- mukimone confined to institution, such as a prison
- yusufiyelione confined to institution, such as a prison
Ukrainian в'я́зень, ув'я́знений
- в'я́зень (vʺjázenʹ)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- ув'я́знений (uvʺjáznenyj)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- паціє́нт (pacijént)one confined to institution, such as a prison
- ме́шканець (méškanecʹ)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- пожиле́ць (požylécʹ)one who occupies a dwelling-house
- жиле́ць (žylécʹ)one who occupies a dwelling-house
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
inmate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inmate
“inmate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inmate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inmate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inmate.
Source: inmate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.