DETAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does detain mean? 

• DETAIN (verb)
  The verb DETAIN has 3 senses:

1. deprive of freedom; take into confinement

2. stop or halt

3. cause to be slowed down or delayed

  Familiarity information: DETAIN used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DETAIN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they detain    ... he / she / it detains   
Past simple: detained   
Past participle: detained   
-ing form: detaining   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deprive of freedom; take into confinement

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

confine; detain

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "detain"):

keep (hold and prevent from leaving)

straiten (squeeze together)

gaol; immure; imprison; incarcerate; jail; jug; lag; put away; put behind bars; remand (lock up or confine, in or as in a jail)

intern (deprive of freedom)

bind over (order a defendant to be placed in custody pending the outcome of a proceedings against him or her)

imprison (confine as if in a prison)

cage; cage in (confine in a cage)

pin down; trap (place in a confining or embarrassing position)

keep in (cause to stay indoors)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to detain the prisoners

Derivation:

detainee (some held in custody)

detention (a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home)

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stop or halt

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

delay; detain; stay

Context example:

Please stay the bloodshed!

Hypernyms (to "detain" is one way to...):

check; delay; retard (slow the growth or development of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to be slowed down or delayed

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

delay; detain; hold up

Context example:

she delayed the work that she didn't want to perform

Hypernyms (to "detain" is one way to...):

decelerate; retard; slow; slow down; slow up (lose velocity; move more slowly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "detain"):

stonewall (engage in delaying tactics or refuse to cooperate)

catch (delay or hold up; prevent from proceeding on schedule or as planned)

stall (deliberately delay an event or action)

buy time (act so as to delay an event or action in order to gain an advantage)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I was detained by the way, but I promised to spend Christmas with you, and here I am.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Agnes was in the drawing-room, waiting for her father, who was detained by someone in his office.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"I will not detain you," he said.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I broke from St. John, who had followed, and would have detained me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“I wish you were not so tired,” said he, still detaining Fanny after all the others were in the house—“I wish I left you in stronger health.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I did not expect to be able to return sooner, when I went away; but three hours ago I had the pleasure of finding nothing to detain me.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He clutched her hand to detain her.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There was no longer anything to detain us on Endeavour Island.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)