- 1detain 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. Wordfinderpolicearrest, charge, cordon, detain, detective, interrogate, plain clothes, police, raid, undercover Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbbriefly, indefinitely, illegally, … verb + detainneed not prepositionfor, in connection with phrasesbe detained in custody, be detained in hospital, detain somebody without charge, … See full entry See related entries: The police
- 2detain 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. see also detention 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’.Extra examples 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. He has been detained without trial for nearly two years now. He 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.
detain
verbBrE BrE//dɪˈteɪn//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈteɪn//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they detain BrE BrE//dɪˈteɪn//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈteɪn//
he / she / it detains BrE BrE//dɪˈteɪnz//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈteɪnz//
past simple detained BrE BrE//dɪˈteɪnd//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈteɪnd//
past participle detained BrE BrE//dɪˈteɪnd//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈteɪnd//
-ing form detaining BrE BrE//dɪˈteɪnɪŋ//; NAmE NAmE//dɪˈteɪnɪŋ//
The policeCheck pronunciation: detain
