detachment

American  

[dih-tach-muhnt] / dɪˈtætʃ mənt /

noun

• detachments
  plural

1. the act of detaching.

2. the condition of being detached.

3. aloofness, as from worldly affairs or from the concerns of others.

   Synonyms:

   unconcern, indifference, coolness

4. freedom from prejudice or partiality.

5. the act of sending out a detached force of troops or naval ships.

6. the body of troops or ships so detached.

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detachment British  

/ dɪˈtætʃmənt /

noun

1. indifference to other people or to one's surroundings; aloofness

2. freedom from self-interest or bias; disinterest

3. the act of disengaging or separating something

4. the condition of being disengaged or separated; disconnection

5. military

   1. the separation of a small unit from its main body, esp of ships or troops

   2. the unit so detached

6. a branch office of a police force

7. logic the rule whereby the consequent of a true conditional statement, given the truth of its antecedent, may be asserted on its own See also modus ponens

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nondetachment
  noun
• predetachment
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• detachments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of detachment

From the French word détachement, dating back to 1660–70. See detach, -ment

Explanation

A state of being distant or standoffish is detachment. Your detachment might mean that you don't cry on the last day of school with all your friends — you're just not that emotionally involved. When you have a sense of detachment from your surroundings, you're a bit aloof or apart, especially in an emotional way. A more physical kind of detachment is an actual coming apart, when something breaks or separates: "The detachment of the wall and the baseboard made it hard to paint the kitchen." Finally, there is a military meaning of detachment — a unit or group of soldiers sent on a separate mission.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

detachment detachments

Unified, district officials emphasized detachment from the proposed legislation.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

With his air of Olympian detachment, Greenspan will be remembered for his long stewardship of the US economy, during which GDP contracted only once.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

A few meters away, 60-year-old Jose Manuel Garcia, who is blind in one eye and undergoing treatment for retinal detachment to save the other, was seeking passage home to the city of Santiago de Cuba.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

The crisis we face is not a lack of information; it is a profound detachment from reality.

From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026

Where’s my professionalism, anyway, the journalistic detachment that was supposed to guide and sustain me every inch of the way?

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

The military's statement said that box extended "up to the northern tip of Luzon, particularly Mavulis Island", which hosts small Philippine navy and marine detachments.

From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026

The small U.S. detachments are not authorized or equipped to fight a war against the guard or anyone else.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

It did not mention Wagner by name but it routinely refers to Wagner as "volunteer assault detachments".

From Reuters ● Jun. 11, 2023

But it just tends to confirm the impression we've gleaned from other sources that the regiment survives as small detachments able to spearhead certain missions.

From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2023

They kept filling out in separate detachments into the afternoon.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• indifference
• neutrality
• objectivity
• remoteness