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.
See Examples For:
According to Sheinbaum, U.S. authorities have not provided their Mexican counterparts with sufficient evidence to warrant the governor’s detention or extradition to the United States.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Craig said that from her seat in Congress, she took on the administration by conducting oversight, helping get constituents released from custody and fighting against the opening of new detention centers in Minnesota.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
An FBI criminal complaint said he had freely admitted his involvement when he was questioned by a police officer in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
He ended up with around 350 other people at a detention centre near Heathrow airport outside London.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
He thought because Danny the K and I sat in detention, that we’d talk to each other like the grade-six upperclassmen he told us we were.
From "P.S. Be Eleven" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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
On Instagram, Sakhi posted photos and videos of police assaults and detentions alongside reels mocking officers standing beside them.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Independence Day celebrations by carrying out detentions and house arrests, the American Embassy in Havana said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
He was finding these detentions particularly irksome because they cut into the already limited time he could have been spending with Ginny.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" 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.
