detain

English

Etymology

From Old French detenir. Cognate with Italian detenere, Portuguese deter, Romanian deține, and Spanish detener.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈteɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Verb

detain (third-person singular simple present detains, present participle detaining, simple past and past participle detained)

1. (transitive) To keep someone from proceeding by holding them back or making claims on their attention.
2. (transitive, law enforcement) To put under custody.
   • 2021 August 16, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: SCP-6002 - All Creatures Great and Small” (19:06 from the start), in The Exploring Series‎^[1], archived from the original on 10 January 2023:

     In April of 2009, however, the disease was found to suddenly no longer be appearing in newly-hatched chickens, and, upon review, it was discovered that Dr. Wildcat had modified 6002 without authorization, removing the disease from the genome. She's detained and questioned by Muller, and, even though she tries to lie that she didn't do anything, they have footage of her ascending the tree on her own.

3. (transitive) To keep back or from; to withhold.
   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

     Detain not the wages of the hireling.

4. (transitive) To seize goods for official purposes.

Derived terms

• detainable
• detainee
• detainer
• detainingly
• detainment
• detention
• redetain

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ten- (1 c, 62 e)

Translations

to detain — see hold

keep someone from proceeding

• Bulgarian: задъ́ржам (bg) impf (zadǎ́ržam), задържа́ (bg) pf (zadǎržá)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: pidätellä (fi)
• Greek: καθυστερώ (el) (kathysteró)
• Latin: dētineō
• Maori: tātāwhi
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

put under custody

• Arabic: اِعْتَقَلَ (ar) (iʕtaqala)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: затры́мліваць impf (zatrýmlivacʹ), затрымо́ўваць impf (zatrymóŭvacʹ), затрыма́ць pf (zatrymácʹ), задзе́ржваць impf (zadzjéržvacʹ)
• Bulgarian: задъ́ржам (bg) impf (zadǎ́ržam), задържа́ (bg) pf (zadǎržá)
• Catalan: detenir (ca), detindre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拘留 (zh) (jūliú), 扣留 (zh) (kòuliú), 扣押 (zh) (kòuyā), 看押 (zh) (kānyā), 拘禁 (zh) (jūjìn)

• Czech: zadržovat impf, zadržet (cs) pf
• Danish: tilbageholde (da)
• Dutch: detineren (nl)
• Esperanto: reteni
• Finnish: pidättää (fi)
• French: détenir (fr), arrêter (fr)
• Galician: deter (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: verhaften (de)
• Greek: κρατώ (el) (krató)
• Hindi: रोकना (hi) (roknā), पकड़ना (hi) (pakaṛnā)
• Hungarian: őrizetbe vesz (hu)
• Irish: coinnigh
• Italian: detenere (it), trattenere (it)
• Japanese: 拘留する (ja) (こうりゅうする, kōryū suru), 引き留める (ja) (ひきとめる, hikitomeru)
• Khmer: កាក់ (km) (kak), បង្ខាំង (km) (bɑngkhang), បង្ក្រៀក (km) (bɑngkriək)
• Korean: 구류하다 (ko) (guryuhada)
• Lao: ກັກ (lo) (kak), ກັກຂັງ (lo) (kak khang)
• Latin: teneo (la)
• Macedonian: задржува impf (zadržuva), задржи pf (zadrži)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: zatrzymywać (pl) impf, zatrzymać (pl) pf
• Portuguese: deter (pt)
• Romanian: reține (ro)
• Russian: заде́рживать (ru) impf (zadérživatʹ), задержа́ть (ru) pf (zaderžátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: задржа́вати impf, задр̀жати pf

  Roman: zadržávati (sh) impf, zadr̀žati (sh) pf

• Slovak: zadržiavať impf, zadržať pf
• Slovene: pridrževati impf, pridržati pf
• Spanish: detener (es), retener (es)
• Swedish: gripa (sv), internera (sv)
• Thai: กัก (th) (gàk), กักขัง (th) (gàk-kǎng), กักตัว (th) (gàk-dtuua)
• Turkish: gözaltına almak (tr)
• Ukrainian: затри́мувати impf (zatrýmuvaty), затри́мати pf (zatrýmaty)
• Vietnamese: cầm giữ (vi), giam (vi), giam cầm (vi)
• Zazaki: tewfiq kerden

keep back or from

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: pidättää (fi)
• Maori: tautāwhi
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

seize goods for official purposes

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: takavarikoida (fi)
• Greek: κατάσχω (el) (katáscho)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} arreteerima, ^{(please verify)} kinni pidama

Anagrams

• tienda, Danite, nidate, -tadine, indate, Tienda, taneid, in date