noun
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the act of detaining or state of being detained
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custody or confinement, esp of a suspect awaiting trial
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( as modifier )
a detention order
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a form of punishment in which a pupil is detained after school
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the withholding of something belonging to or claimed by another
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of detention
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin dētentiōn- (stem of dētentiō ), equivalent to dētent ( us ) detained (past participle of dētinēre; see detain) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Detention is a word for confinement or imprisonment, usually for a short time. It's also a punishment where children must stay after school. If you're in detention, you probably did something wrong: you're being confined against your will. The police hold people in detention, and so do military forces. Usually, detention is a short period of confinement, like if someone is arrested and then released. Also, the word is commonly used for an after-school punishment for children who have to stay in detention instead of going home. One thing is true of both kinds of detention: no one wants to be there.
Vocabulary lists containing detention
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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.
See Examples For:
Belgal is now being held at a detention facility.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
It came the day before an expected decision on a legal challenge brought by Bai's lawyers against Thai authorities over his continued detention.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes granted a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction, ordering the agencies to make sweeping changes at the detention center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Her lawyers have proposed she be held under home detention with 24-hour armed surveillance.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
I have detention for a few days because of a misunderstanding.
From "Millionaires for the Month" by Stacey McAnulty
It also underscores how U.S. ties with China are fraying over detentions, trade clashes and geopolitical tensions even as Trump works to curry favor with Xi as a fellow superpower leader.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
This was perhaps an effort to run out the clock, as Texas law provides that extradition detentions last no more than 90 days.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
On the eve of the election, Zambia's Human Rights Commission said it was "actively monitoring arrests and detentions involving political candidates, supporters, journalists and other actors".
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Over the course of months, investigators made a couple of detentions and conducted a few searches as the Guthrie family made a series of emotional pleas to the kidnappers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Harry had forgotten they still had detentions to do in the furor over the points they’d lost.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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.
