detention center
Americannoun
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a facility maintained by the civil authorities for persons charged with a crime, immigrants awaiting deportation rulings, or sometimes witnesses before a trial.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of detention center
First recorded in 1945–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The agency told the San José Spotlight that the project is an ICE office and denied that it would be a detention center.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
Protesters clashed with US law enforcement outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey, a top US official said Friday, after inmates inside staged a hunger strike over conditions.
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
“It’s the only detention center in the country that doesn’t have an indoor waiting area,” she said.
From Slate • May 29, 2026
The Broadview immigration facility, a temporary detention center, became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s effort to increase enforcement in the Chicago area during what it called “Operation Midway Blitz” last fall.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
I want to go see my mother at the detention center in New Jersey.
From "American Street" by Ibi Zoboi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
