custodial
Americanadjective
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of or relating to custody.
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of, relating to, or appropriate to a custodian.
a building superintendent's custodial duties.
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responsible for or providing protective supervision and guardianship rather than seeking to improve or cure.
Overcrowding forces many mental hospitals to provide only custodial care.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of custodial
Explanation
Someone whose job or task is custodial is supposed to take care of you. A babysitter's job is custodial. A guardian or caregiver of any kind has a custodial duty — he or she supervises and protects another person, usually a child. After a divorce, there's sometimes only one custodial parent, while the other only visits occasionally. When a criminal is sent to prison, it's often called a "custodial sentence," because the convicted person is being watched over and supervised in jail. The Latin root is custodia, "guarding or keeping."
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.
It adds: "Statements made on social media many years ago, or those published outside Saudi Arabia, may be taken into account. Punishment can include long custodial sentences."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Around the same time, his sister opened a custodial brokerage account for him at Charles Schwab.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
The judge said he accepted Patrick's "remorse was genuine" but there was "no appropriate alternative to a significant custodial sentence".
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
“It’s a recognition that a custodial sentence is realistic,” said James Melendres, a former national-security prosecutor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Canton always waited for his mother after school, killing time by helping Mr. Munch, the custodian, do custodial things.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
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.
