Skip to main content
All words

noun

detention

a state of being confined (usually for a short time)

In a sentence

Six example sentences with detention, each labelled with its topic.

  • The court reviewed his detention after forty eight hours and ordered release because no charge had been filed.

    Law

  • Ellis Island records show families held in detention for weeks while inspectors verified a single misspelled surname.

    History

  • Border officers moved the passenger to a windowless detention room until his connecting flight was reissued the next morning.

    Travel

  • The film's tensest scene unfolds in an airport detention room where a traveler waits for a translator.

    Movies

  • The memoir describes a week in detention with such calm detail that the reader feels the walls.

    Literature

  • Lawmakers demanded a limit on detention without charge, arguing that forty eight hours was long enough for any investigation.

    Politics

Study detention until you keep it

Sign up freeOr start learning, no sign-up →

Learn English words in sentences about topics you pick, with a quick quiz. With an account, words come back for review.

Found in these word lists

Each source is a published word list that contains detention. No exam board publishes an official GRE, GMAT or SAT list; GMAT words come from GRE lists and the Academic Word List.

More Medical words