detention
/dɪˈtɛnʃn̩/
detention noun: the act of detaining or the state of being detained; hindrance.
Noun
detention (countable and uncountable, plural detentions)
- The act of detaining or the state of being detained; hindrance.
- Detain not the wages of the hireling: for every degree of detention of it beyond the time is injuſtice, and uncharitableneſs, and grindes his face til tears and blood come out: […]1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Christian Justice”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, section III (Of Negotiation, or Civil Contracts), page...
- In the case of rail-borne traffic, permission is given to each sender to load and forward his traffic so that it will be available for loading into the vessel with a minimum of detention to wagons, unless arrangements have been made for the traffic to be put into store to await the arrival of the...1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 12
- Synonyms:
- delay, hindrance, impediment, retardation
- Confinement of a prisoner awaiting trial.
- A punishment given to a student for a minor infraction, typically requiring the student to report to a designated room during recess or outside of school hours to work on homework or perform busywork.
- be stuck in detention
- Now, for slacking off in class and for having a serious attitude problem, your punishment is two weeks in detention, with me, starting this afternoon.1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Mr. Strickland
- The bare physical control without the mental element of intention required for possession.
Proper noun capitalized: Detention
Detention
- A locality in Circular Head Council, north western Tasmania, Australia.
detention meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
detention in Hindi
- detention
- नज़रबंदी nazarbandī
detention in Tamil
- காப்பில் வைத்தல், காப்பில்வைத்தல், காவலில், சிறையில் வைத்தல், சிறை வைத்தல், சிறைவைப்பு
detention in Urdu
- حراست, نظر بندی
detention in Bengali
- আটককরণ
More languagesFewer languages
- detention in Telugu
- నిర్బంధం
- detention in Malayalam
- അറസ്റ്റു ചെയ്യൽ, തടവിൽ വയ്ക്കൽ
- detention in Kannada
- ಸೆರೆ, ತಡೆಹಿಡಿತ
- detention in Punjabi
- ਨਜ਼ਰਬੰਦੀ
- detention in Gujarati
- અટકાયત
- detention in Odia
- ଅଟକାଦେଶ
- detention in Nepali
- हिरासत, नजरबन्द
- detention in Tagalog
- pagkabinbin
- detention in Arabic
- تَوْقِيف tawqīf
- detention in Indonesian
- penahanan
- detention in Vietnamese
- sự giam giữ, sự giam cầm, sự cầm tù, sự cấm túc
Examples of detention in a sentence
- The UN inspector stated that the Australian government's migrant detention facilities were in effect concentration camps.
- You got off lightly by not being kept in detention for breaking that window.
- If you defy your teacher you may end up in detention.
Synonyms of detention
Forms of detention
| plural | detentions |
|---|
Origin of detention
Borrowed from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, detentionem. Equivalent to detain + -tion.
Words formed from detention
Phrases with detention
- detention cells
- detention homes
- detention ponds
- detention times
- detention basins
- detention centers
- detention centres
- detention officers
- detention warrants
- houses of detention
- youth detention center
- youth detention centre
4 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about detention
- What does detention mean?
- Detention means the act of detaining or the state of being detained; hindrance.
- What is detention in Hindi?
- Detention in Hindi is नज़रबंदी (nazarbandī). See Detention meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is detention?
- Detention can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce detention?
- Detention is pronounced /dɪˈtɛnʃn̩/.
- What is the plural of detention?
- The plural of detention is detentions.
Words near detention in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: detention (page history and authors); Detention (page history and authors); नज़रबंदी (Hindi) (page history and authors); detention (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detention (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detention (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); detention (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); detention (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detention (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); detention (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); detention (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); detention (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); detention (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-detention.wav.
Cite this entry: “detention.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/detention. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.