detention

/dɪˈtɛnʃɪn/

/dɪˈtɛnʃɪn/

Other forms: detentions

Detention is a word for confinement or imprisonment, usually for a short time. It's also a punishment where children must stay after school.

If you're in detention, you probably did something wrong: you're being confined against your will. The police hold people in detention, and so do military forces. Usually, detention is a short period of confinement, like if someone is arrested and then released. Also, the word is commonly used for an after-school punishment for children who have to stay in detention instead of going home. One thing is true of both kinds of detention: no one wants to be there.

Definitions of detention

1. noun

   a state of being confined (usually for a short time)
   “his detention was politically motivated”

   synonyms: custody, detainment, hold

   type of:

   confinement

   the state of being confined
2. noun

   a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home
   “the detention of tardy pupils”

   type of:

   penalisation, penalization, penalty, punishment, sanction

   the act of punishing