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detainee

American  
[dih-tey-nee, dee-tey-nee] / dɪˈteɪ ni, ˌdi teɪˈni /

noun

  1. a person held in custody, especially for a political offense or for questioning.

Etymology

Origin of detainee

First recorded in 1925–30; detain + -ee

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 also includes a massive detention center to be built in New Hampshire that can hold tens of thousands of detainees.

From Salon

Combined with 10 other existing facilities it plans to purchase, they would collectively hold more than 92,000 detainees.

From The Wall Street Journal

A source close to the Venezuelan government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as "president" by some of his fellow detainees.

From Barron's

"We have written in the letter that we released your detainee here, so you should release our detainee there as well," his son said.

From Barron's

The man some of his fellow detainees call "president" in the hallways reads the Bible, according to a source close to the Venezuelan government.

From Barron's

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.