Detain
verb
To keep someone from leaving a place.
The police had the right to detain the suspect for 24 hours.
Often appears as...
- detain someone
- detain for questioning
verb
To make someone be late or slow.
Sorry I'm late, a meeting at work detained me.
Often appears as...
- detain in traffic
- detain at work
verb
To officially prevent someone from leaving a place.
The lawyer asked if his client had been lawfully detained.
Often appears as...
- unlawfully detain
- legally detain
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
verb
To keep a student in school after class hours as punishment.
The teacher decided to detain Michael after school for not doing his homework.
Often appears as...
- detain after school
- teacher detain
verb
To keep someone from leaving a place.
The police had the right to detain the suspect for 24 hours.
Often appears as...
- detain someone
- detain for questioning
verb
To make someone be late or slow.
Sorry I'm late, a meeting at work detained me.
Often appears as...
- detain in traffic
- detain at work
verb
To officially prevent someone from leaving a place.
The lawyer asked if his client had been lawfully detained.
Often appears as...
- unlawfully detain
- legally detain
Usage tips
Formal
Academic
verb
To keep a student in school after class hours as punishment.
The teacher decided to detain Michael after school for not doing his homework.
Often appears as...
- detain after school
- teacher detain
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/2Police Powers
Used to describe police authority to stop an individual from leaving.
The officer can detain anyone suspected of a crime.
Pro Tip 2/2Temporary Situation
Implies the person will be free to go after some time or conditions are met.
We were detained at the checkpoint until the search was completed.
Pro Tip 1/2Police Powers
Used to describe police authority to stop an individual from leaving.
The officer can detain anyone suspected of a crime.
Pro Tip 2/2Temporary Situation
Implies the person will be free to go after some time or conditions are met.
We were detained at the checkpoint until the search was completed.
Pro Tip 1/2Police Powers
Used to describe police authority to stop an individual from leaving.
The officer can detain anyone suspected of a crime.
Pro Tip 2/2Temporary Situation
Implies the person will be free to go after some time or conditions are met.
We were detained at the checkpoint until the search was completed.
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Video examples
Erika Pinheiro: What's...
to stop the government from brutalizing our clients, but we can't keep tinkering around the edges of the law if we want migrants to be treated humanely. This administration would have you believe that we have to separate families and we have to detain children, because it will stop more refugees from coming to our borders. But we know that this isn't true.
Video examples
Anne Milgram: Why smart...
and I know that we can do better. So I decided to focus on using data and analytics to help make the most critical decision in public safety, and that decision is the determination of whether, when someone has been arrested, whether they pose a risk to public safety and should be detained,
Video examples
The risky politics of...
They used the police instead of the army. They only detained suspects if they had enough evidence. They held public trials. They even sent liberal imams into the jails to persuade the jihadists that terror is un-Islamic. And all of this paid off in spectacular fashion,
Video examples
A wall won't solve...
but for the purposes of this conversation, I want to follow up on something you just said, which is both that it's wrong to detain children, and that it's not effective. So the question, then, is why does the administration continue to do it,
Video examples
Chimps have feelings and...
when they're not cabined in by statutes or constitutions, and a writ of habeus corpus is called the Great Writ, capital G, capital W, and it's meant to protect any of us who are detained against our will. A writ of habeus corpus is issued.
Video examples
Black Women and the...
administration into supporting a federal amendment for women's suffrage that will lead to civil disobedience as we sometimes say that will lead to white women suffragists being arrested and detained as political prisoners
Video examples
What "Orwellian" really...
The Ministry of Peace is the military. Labor camps are called "Joycamps." Political prisoners are detained and tortured in the Ministry of Love. This deliberate irony is an example of doublespeak,
Video examples
Kimberley Motley: How I...
protects us. Now, with my job, there's above-average amount of risks that are involved. I've been temporarily detained. I've been accused of running a brothel, accused of being a spy.
Video examples
The importance of...
evacuation from our own homes and cities July 2nd 2013 my own father got detained by the Assad regime my mom and my sisters had to flee and leave behind our
Video examples
The Sinking of the SS...
suicide and germany surrenders a week later tim and his crew hand their u-boat over to the japanese and are detained long after peace in europe and asia
Video examples
Erika Pinheiro: What's...
to stop the government from brutalizing our clients, but we can't keep tinkering around the edges of the law if we want migrants to be treated humanely. This administration would have you believe that we have to separate families and we have to detain children, because it will stop more refugees from coming to our borders. But we know that this isn't true.
Video examples
Anne Milgram: Why smart...
and I know that we can do better. So I decided to focus on using data and analytics to help make the most critical decision in public safety, and that decision is the determination of whether, when someone has been arrested, whether they pose a risk to public safety and should be detained,
Video examples
The risky politics of...
They used the police instead of the army. They only detained suspects if they had enough evidence. They held public trials. They even sent liberal imams into the jails to persuade the jihadists that terror is un-Islamic. And all of this paid off in spectacular fashion,
Video examples
A wall won't solve...
but for the purposes of this conversation, I want to follow up on something you just said, which is both that it's wrong to detain children, and that it's not effective. So the question, then, is why does the administration continue to do it,
Video examples
Chimps have feelings and...
when they're not cabined in by statutes or constitutions, and a writ of habeus corpus is called the Great Writ, capital G, capital W, and it's meant to protect any of us who are detained against our will. A writ of habeus corpus is issued.
Video examples
Black Women and the...
administration into supporting a federal amendment for women's suffrage that will lead to civil disobedience as we sometimes say that will lead to white women suffragists being arrested and detained as political prisoners
Video examples
What "Orwellian" really...
The Ministry of Peace is the military. Labor camps are called "Joycamps." Political prisoners are detained and tortured in the Ministry of Love. This deliberate irony is an example of doublespeak,
Video examples
Kimberley Motley: How I...
protects us. Now, with my job, there's above-average amount of risks that are involved. I've been temporarily detained. I've been accused of running a brothel, accused of being a spy.
Video examples
The importance of...
evacuation from our own homes and cities July 2nd 2013 my own father got detained by the Assad regime my mom and my sisters had to flee and leave behind our
Video examples
The Sinking of the SS...
suicide and germany surrenders a week later tim and his crew hand their u-boat over to the japanese and are detained long after peace in europe and asia
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Isaac Newton
English Mathematician
The same thing is to be understood of all bodies, revolved in any orbits. They all endeavour to recede from the centres of their orbits, and were it not for the opposition of a contrary force which restrains them to and detains them in their orbits, which I therefore call Centripetal, would fly off in right lines with a uniform motion.
Quote examples
Kris Kobach
American Politician
Self-deportation benefits the illegal alien because he can leave without being arrested or detained, and self-deportation benefits the taxpayer because the government doesn't have to spend money arresting the alien, detaining the alien and holding removal hearings.
Quote examples
Ted Cruz
American Politician
We need to make clear the federal government does not have authority to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without due process or, for that matter, to use lethal force on U.S. citizens on U.S. soil if they don't pose imminent threats.
Quote examples
Raja Krishnamoorthi
American Businessman
So many of our businesses rely on green card holders - how are we supposed to attract these people if they think they'll be detained at the airport if they go abroad for a wedding or just to show their baby to relatives?
Quote examples
Otto Schily
German Public Servant
Arresting and detaining these dangerous people can make sense, at least until a final decision is reached on their deportation. However, such detention must always be subject to time limits and court review.
Quote examples
Maria Monk
Canadian Celebrity
I have hardly detained the reader long enough on the subject, to give him a just impression of the stress laid on confession. It is one of the great points to which our attention was constantly directed.
Quote examples
Peter Ustinov
English Actor
People who reach the top of the tree are only those who haven't got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom.
Quote examples
Richard Eyre
British Director
There are those who leave without our needing to detain them; we have said all there is to say.
Quote examples
Walter Savage Landor
English Poet
My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them.
Quote examples
Sibel Edmonds
American Public Servant
I see people detained for simple INS violations.
Quote examples
Isaac Newton
English Mathematician
The same thing is to be understood of all bodies, revolved in any orbits. They all endeavour to recede from the centres of their orbits, and were it not for the opposition of a contrary force which restrains them to and detains them in their orbits, which I therefore call Centripetal, would fly off in right lines with a uniform motion.
Quote examples
Kris Kobach
American Politician
Self-deportation benefits the illegal alien because he can leave without being arrested or detained, and self-deportation benefits the taxpayer because the government doesn't have to spend money arresting the alien, detaining the alien and holding removal hearings.
Quote examples
Ted Cruz
American Politician
We need to make clear the federal government does not have authority to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without due process or, for that matter, to use lethal force on U.S. citizens on U.S. soil if they don't pose imminent threats.
Quote examples
Raja Krishnamoorthi
American Businessman
So many of our businesses rely on green card holders - how are we supposed to attract these people if they think they'll be detained at the airport if they go abroad for a wedding or just to show their baby to relatives?
Quote examples
Otto Schily
German Public Servant
Arresting and detaining these dangerous people can make sense, at least until a final decision is reached on their deportation. However, such detention must always be subject to time limits and court review.
Quote examples
Maria Monk
Canadian Celebrity
I have hardly detained the reader long enough on the subject, to give him a just impression of the stress laid on confession. It is one of the great points to which our attention was constantly directed.
Quote examples
Peter Ustinov
English Actor
People who reach the top of the tree are only those who haven't got the qualifications to detain them at the bottom.
Quote examples
Richard Eyre
British Director
There are those who leave without our needing to detain them; we have said all there is to say.
Quote examples
Walter Savage Landor
English Poet
My thoughts are my company; I can bring them together, select them, detain them, dismiss them.
Quote examples
Sibel Edmonds
American Public Servant
I see people detained for simple INS violations.
Example 1 of 10
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