detention center
Americannoun
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detention centers
plural
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a facility maintained by the civil authorities for persons charged with a crime, immigrants awaiting deportation rulings, or sometimes witnesses before a trial.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of detention center
First recorded in 1945–50
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.
Garces Perez says doctors couldn’t remove the bullet because it had lodged near his spine and ICE wanted to move him to a detention center, where he remains in custody.
From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2026
Over the weekend, a Salvadoran immigrant being held at the notorious Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey died after experiencing a medical emergency, the second death the facility has seen since December.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
He is being held without bond at the county’s adult detention center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
After her son was hospitalized twice, she said he was returned to a detention center and has so far only received painkillers.
From Barron's
She informed me that he was in West Street—the federal detention center downtown.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
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.
