definitions

house arrest

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noun

confinement of an arrested person to his or her residence or to a public place, as a hospital, instead of in a jail: He was under house arrest until the day of his trial.

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RELATED WORDS

purdah

Nearby words

hourly, hours, housatonic, house, house agent, house arrest, house brand, house call, house church, house counsel, house cricket

Origin of house arrest

First recorded in 1935–40
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for house arrest

British Dictionary definitions for house arrest

house arrest

noun

confinement to one's own home
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

Culture definitions for house arrest

house arrest

Forcible detention in one's house rather than in a prison. House arrest is used by some nations as a way to silence political dissent without the elaborate trials and criminal proceedings that would bring bad publicity.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.