protective custody
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of protective custody
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
He narrowly escaped and was placed under protective custody.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
Now he’d be sent to the hospital, stitched up, placed in protective custody, and sent to another prison.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2025
Mr De Wet will be taken into protective custody until the end of the trial.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2025
Shift duty officers with no security experience were being asked to make decisions in the middle of the night about whether to put detainees who felt threatened in protective custody.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 20, 2025
Helmuth tells them what Hugo had said, that Brother Worbs was denounced by someone who heard him criticize the Nazis, and now he was taken into protective custody.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
