detain
verb/dɪˈteɪn/
/dɪˈteɪn/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they detain | /dɪˈteɪn/ /dɪˈteɪn/ |
| he / she / it detains | /dɪˈteɪnz/ /dɪˈteɪnz/ |
| past simple detained | /dɪˈteɪnd/ /dɪˈteɪnd/ |
| past participle detained | /dɪˈteɪnd/ /dɪˈteɪnd/ |
| -ing form detaining | /dɪˈteɪnɪŋ/ /dɪˈteɪnɪŋ/ |
- detain somebody to keep somebody in an official place, such as a police station, a prison or a hospital, and prevent them from leaving
- One man has been detained for questioning.
Extra ExamplesTopics Law and justicec1, Crime and punishmentc1- He has been detained without trial for nearly two years now.
- She was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.
- Over 60 people have been detained in connection with the coup attempt.
- Prisoners cannot be detained indefinitely without charge.
- She was arrested and detained for distributing pro-democracy leaflets.
- The law allows police to detain suspects for questioning for up to 48 hours.
- Two people were detained in hospital following the crash.
- Two men have been detained in custody.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- briefly
- indefinitely
- illegally
- …
- need not
- for
- in connection with
- be detained in custody
- be detained in hospital
- detain somebody without charge
- …
- detain somebody (formal) to delay somebody or prevent them from going somewhere
- I'm sorry—he'll be late; he's been detained at a meeting.
- The minister was unavoidably detained in Lisbon on affairs of state.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘be afflicted with sickness or infirmity’): from Old French detenir, from a variant of Latin detinere, from de- ‘away, aside’ + tenere ‘to hold’.
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detain