Meanings
plural supermaxes
- USA prison with the highest possible level of security.
As he sits today in Supermax, Powers had amputated his fingers, a testicle, his scrotum and his earlobes, has cut his Achilles tendon, and had tried several times to kill himself.
2012 June 18, Andrew Cohen, “An American Gulag: Descending into Madness at Supermax”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 11 Jun 2023
- not comparableBeing, or pertaining to, such a prison.
Kaczynski had been held in the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, since May 1998, when he was sentenced to four life sentences plus 30 years for a campaign of terror that set universities nationwide on edge.
2023 June 11, “‘Unabomber’ Ted Kaczynski died by suicide in prison – report”, in The Guardian, →ISSNSynonyms: ADX
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveBeing, or pertaining to, such a prison.
Origin
From super- + max (as in maximum security prison).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
supermax. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/supermax
“supermax.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/supermax. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “supermax,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/supermax.
Source: supermax on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.