arrest

Syllables: ar·rest/əˈɹɛst/

arrest noun: a check; a stop; an act or instance of arresting something.

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Noun

arrest (countable and uncountable, plural arrests)

A check; a stop; an act or instance of arresting something.
The condition of being stopped, standstill.
- cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest
The process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc.
- State police made a total of 15 drug-related arrests across the city.
A confinement, detention, as after an arrest.
A device to physically arrest motion.
The judicial detention of a ship to secure a financial claim against its operators.
(obsolete) Any seizure by power, physical or otherwise.
- The sad stories of fire from heaven, the burning of his sheep, etc., […] were sad arrests to his troubled spirit.1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC
A scurfiness of the back part of the hind leg of a horse

Verb

arrest (third-person singular simple present arrests, present participle arresting, simple past and past participle arrested)

(obsolete, transitive) To stop the motion of (a person, animal, or body part).
- An vncouth paine torments my grieued ſoule,
  And death arreſts the organe of my voyce.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- Nor could her virtues, nor repeated vows Of thousand lovers, the relentless hand Of Death arrest;1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 11
Synonyms:

freeze
(intransitive, obsolete) To stay, remain.
- A white Starre[…]whiche to every mans sighte did lighte and arrest apon the Standard of Albry.1538, John Leland, Itineraries
(transitive) To stop or slow (a process, course etc.).
- To try to arrest the spiral of violence, I contacted Chief Buthelezi to arrange a meeting.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 707
- Knowledge replaced universal resemblance with finite differences. History was arrested and turned into tables …Western reason had entered the age of judgement.1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 69 (Totem Books, Icon Books; →ISBN)
Synonyms:

cease
(transitive) To seize (someone) with the authority of the law; to take into legal custody.
- The police have arrested a suspect in the murder inquiry.
- The suspect merchant ship has been arrested by customs officers.
Synonyms:

apprehend
(transitive) To catch the attention of.
- There is something about this picture—something bold and vigorous, which arrests the attention. I feel sure it would be highly popular.1919: P. G. Wodehouse, My Man Jeeves
Synonyms:

attract
(intransitive) To undergo cardiac arrest.
- Realizing the mistake immediately from the outline of the RCA on the fluoroscope screen, he rapidly removed the catheter – just as his patient arrested.2004, Euan A. Ashley, Josef Niebauer, Cardiology Explained, page 66

arrest meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

arrest in Hindi

legal: process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc: गिरफ़्तारी giraftārī
to take into legal custody: गिरफ़तार करना giraftār karnā, पकड़ना pakaṛnā, प्रग्रहण pragrahaṇ, निग्रह nigrah

arrest in Tamil

legal: process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc: கைது kaitu

arrest in Marathi

act or instance of arresting something: संरोध saurodh
condition of being stopped: संरोध saurodh
legal: process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc: अटक aṭak
to stop or slow a process etc.: संरोध करणे saurodh karṇe

arrest in Urdu

legal: process of arresting a criminal, suspect etc: گِرِفْتاری giriftārī
to take into legal custody: گرفتار کرنا giraftār karnā, پکڑنا pakaṛnā

More languagesFewer languages

arrest in Bengali: কয়েদ koẏed
arrest in Malayalam: പിടികൂടുക piṭikūṭuka
arrest in Kannada: ಕಯ್ಸೆರೆ, ಕೆಯ್ಸೆರೆ, ಬಂಧನ, ದಸ್ತಗಿರಿ
arrest in Punjabi: ਫੜਨਾ phaṛnā, پھڑنا phaṛnā
arrest in Gujarati: ગિરફતારી giraphtārī
arrest in Odia: ଗିରଫଦାରୀ, ଗିରଫ କରିବା
arrest in Sanskrit: निग्रह nigraha, प्रग्रहण pragrahaṇa
arrest in Sinhala: අත්අඩංගුවට ataḍaṁguwaṭa, අල්ලනවා allanawā
arrest in Nepali: गिरफ्तारी, पक्राउ, गिरफ्तार
arrest in Tagalog: pagdakip
arrest in Arabic: تَوْقِيف tawqīf, اِعْتِقَال iʕtiqāl, اِعْتَقَلَ iʕtaqala, قَبَضَ qabaḍa
arrest in Malay: ares
arrest in Persian: دستگیر کردن dastgir kardan, حبس کردن habs kardan
arrest in Thai: การจับ gaan-jàp, ยั้ง yáng, จับได้, จับตัว
arrest in Vietnamese: sự bắt, bắt, bắt giữ
arrest in Myanmar: ဖမ်း hpam:

Examples of arrest in a sentence

Van Rensberg broke the spell by arresting Martha as she trailed past him on Billy's arm, by pointing his pipestem at her and saying, ‘Hey, Matty, come here a minute.’1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 86:
The policeman who arrests the "Red" does not understand the theories the "Red" is preaching; if he did, his own position as bodyguard of the monied class might seem less pleasant to him.1941, George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn, Pt. I:

All 40 example sentences with arrest

Synonyms of arrest

All synonyms of arrest

Forms of arrest

Noun
plural	arrests
Verb
third-person singular present	arrests
present participle	arresting
past participle	arrested
past	arrested

Past tense of arrest: arrested

Plural of arrest: arrests

Origin of arrest

From Middle English arest (noun) and aresten (verb), from Old French areste (noun) and arester (“to stay, stop”, verb), from Vulgar Latin *arrestō, from Latin ad- (“to”) + restō (“to stop, remain behind, stay back”), from re- (“back”) + stō (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”), equivalent to ad- + rest. Compare French arrêter (“to stop”).

Phrases with arrest

Words that rhyme with arrest

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about arrest

What does arrest mean?: Arrest means a check; a stop; an act or instance of arresting something.
What is arrest in Hindi?: Arrest in Hindi is गिरफ़्तारी (giraftārī), गिरफ़तार करना (giraftār karnā), पकड़ना (pakaṛnā). See Arrest meaning in Hindi.
How do you use arrest in a sentence?: Van Rensberg broke the spell by arresting Martha as she trailed past him on Billy's arm, by pointing his pipestem at her and saying, ‘Hey, Matty, come here a minute.’
What part of speech is arrest?: Arrest can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce arrest?: Arrest is pronounced /əˈɹɛst/.
What is the plural of arrest?: The plural of arrest is arrests.

Words near arrest in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: arrest (page history and authors); কয়েদ (Bengali) (page history and authors); arrest (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); پھڑنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); arrest (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); අත්අඩංගුවට (Sinhala) (page history and authors); arrest (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-arrest.ogg.

Cite this entry: “arrest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/arrest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.