Meaning & use
prison warden
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableAmerican
The official in charge of a prison and its staff.
Grammar: Countable: a prison warden, the prison warden, prison wardens.
Patterns
- the prison warden of a facility
- appoint someone (as) prison warden
The prison warden announced new visiting hours for families.
She worked for ten years as a prison warden before retiring.
The prison warden must answer questions about the escape.
Word forms
| plural | prison wardens |
|---|
Common combinations
- prison warden
- The prison warden spoke to the local newspaper.
- deputy prison warden
- The deputy prison warden handled the daily schedule.
- appoint a prison warden
- The state appointed a new prison warden last month.
- prison warden's office
- Visitors should report to the prison warden's office.
Synonyms and how they differ
- governor
- The usual British word for the person in charge of a prison; warden is the American term.
- superintendent
- Used in some places for a similar senior prison official, but it can also mean a police rank.
Word family
- warden noun
- A person who guards or manages a place, such as a park or building.
- wardenship noun
- The position or period of being a warden.
Commonly confused: prison warden or guard?
prison warden vs guard
A guard is a lower-ranking officer who watches prisoners; the warden is the top manager of the whole prison.
Practice
Who is responsible for the overall management of a prison?
Choose one answer.
A prison warden is the official in charge of the whole prison. A prison guard or officer does daily security work but does not run the facility.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “prison warden”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.