From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpenitentiarypen‧i‧ten‧tia‧ry /ˌpenəˈtenʃəri/ noun (plural penitentiaries) [countable] American English SCJa prison – used especially in the names of prisons the North Carolina state penitentiary► see thesaurus at prison
Examples from the Corpus
penitentiary• If Kili is a penitentiary, Bikini is the penthouse suite.• Officials said the devices appear similar to two additional bombs that arrived Thursday at a federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan.• the abandoned federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island• Tom Martell sits in the federal penitentiary at Las Vegas, a prisoner of conscience.• the North Carolina State Penitentiary• the Ohio State penitentiary• The murderer served 10 years at the penitentiary in Stillwater.• The turn-off for the penitentiary appears too suddenly out of flat scrub.• When I arrived back from the penitentiary, Gloria was in my room asleep.• Other men in the penitentiary kept garden snakes, rats and pigeons for pets..• He has been out of the penitentiary for one week and the suit is his prison issue.• He helped me get out the penitentiary. 