detention
[dih-ten-shuh n]
Show More
- of or relating to detention or used to detain: the detention room of a police station.
Show More
Origin of detention
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
quarantineincarcerationdelayarrestcustodyinternmentwithholdingapprehensionrestrainthindrancepenbustdetainmentpickupimpedimentpinchretentionimmurementnabExamples from the Web for detention
Contemporary Examples
He then escaped from his detention and arrived on Tverskaya Avenue to join his supporters.
After two nights in detention, he was scheduled to be deported back to Turkey on Monday.
Perhaps the guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities will finally be allowed to smoke cubans, too.
But on Monday, when he was scheduled to appear in court, KSM was back in his detention site.
On Sunday afternoon both Babinets and Dimitriyev were released after several hours of detention.
Historical Examples
We had good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents.
Ned MyersJames Fenimore Cooper
His detention was doubtless irregular, for by law he should have been sent beyond the seas.
BunyanJames Anthony Froude
That done, he resorted to measures for La Boulaye's detention.
The Trampling of the LiliesRafael Sabatini
He had a warrant authorising her detention in a home for chronic inebriates.
The MissionaryGeorge Griffith
Detention, most courteously arranged, while the Ambassador was communicated with.
detention
- the act of detaining or state of being detained
- custody or confinement, esp of a suspect awaiting trial
- (as modifier)a detention order
- a form of punishment in which a pupil is detained after school
- the withholding of something belonging to or claimed by another
Show More
Word Origin
C16: from Latin dētentiō a keeping back; see detain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for detention
n.
mid-15c., from Middle French détention (13c.), from Late Latin detentionem (nominative detentio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin detinere (see detain). Sense of "confinement" used by 1570s (in reference to Mary Queen of Scots). In reference to school punishment, recorded from 1882.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper