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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Freak the Mighty
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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.
“The three daily meals that CoreCivic provides at California City Detention Facility are the bare minimum to keep a person alive,” they wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2026
More than a dozen people have been convicted or pleaded guilty in connection with an incident at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, in July.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 23, 2026
The federal Bureau of Prisons says he is currently jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
From Los Angeles Times • May 17, 2026
She then was transferred to Pretrial Detention Centre Number 5 in Donetsk, where she shared a small, filthy cell with around 20 common-law prisoners.
From Barron's • May 8, 2026
Albertina Sisulu and Caroline Motsoaledi were detained under the Ninety-Day Detention Act, and Walter’s young son Max was also arrested.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
