detention

CEFRB2

/dɪˈtɛnʃn̩/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
noun
The act of keeping someone in a place by official order.
02
noun
Extra detail
A temporary state of custody or confinement., Confinement of a prisoner awaiting trial.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

In context

Tom was given detention for talking during class.
be stuck in detention
Now, for slacking off in class and for having a serious attitude problem, your punishment is two weeks in detention, with me, starting this afternoon.

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Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

In the case of rail-borne traffic, permission is given to each sender to load and forward his traffic so that it will be available for loading into the vessel with a minimum of detention to wagons, unless arrangements have been made for the traffic to be put into store to await the arrival of the ship.
1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 12
"[…] On the 18th of October, 1841, a very intense magnetic disturbance was recorded, and amongst other curious facts mentioned is that of the detention of the 10:05pm express train at Exeter for 16 minutes, as from the magnetic disturbance affecting the needles so powerfully, it was impossible to ascertain if the line was clear at Starcross. The superintendent at Exeter reported the next morning that someone was playing tricks with the instruments, and would not let them work."
2023 November 15, Prof. Jim Wild, “This train was delayed because of bad weather in space”, in RAIL, number 996, page 30
Now, for slacking off in class and for having a serious attitude problem, your punishment is two weeks in detention, with me, starting this afternoon.
1985, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Back to the Future, spoken by Mr. Strickland

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Borrowed from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, detentionem. Equivalent to detain + -tion.