detachment
/dɪˈtatʃm(ə)nt
/noun
1 [mass noun] The state of being objective or aloof: he felt a sense of detachment from what was going on...
- I wish I could approach this with the cool detachment that I view the new series of Enterprise, or the next episode of Desperate Housewives.
- The intellectual's obligation to detachment and objectivity is never lost sight of.
- While watching ‘The Passion’ I felt a sense of detachment even as I was being emotionally pummeled by the images on the screen.
Synonyms
objectivity, dispassion, dispassionateness, disinterest, indifference, aloofness, remoteness, distance, open-mindedness, neutrality, lack of bias, lack of prejudice, impartiality, fairness, fair-mindedness, equitability, even-handedness, unselfishness
2 Military A group of troops, aircraft, or ships sent away on a separate mission: a detachment of Marines [mass noun]: the Squadron went on detachment to Malta...
- The four Kidd-class destroyers will become the flag ships of separate detachments of the task force,’ he said.
- U.S. Central Command sent a detachment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division to control the facility's gate.
- The Japanese garrison, which included two infantry battalions and naval detachments, resisted tenaciously and the islands were not declared secure until 18 May.
Synonyms
unit, detail, squad, troop, contingent, outfit, task force, crew, patrol, section, formation;
squadron, flight, division, platoon, company, corps, regiment, brigade, battalion, force, garrison, legion
2.1A party of people separated from a larger group: a truck containing a detachment of villagers...
- Already, a detachment of Vanguards was on its way to intercept the Wings.
- While neither excessive speed nor alcohol was a factor in this crash, police from both detachments were still urging drivers to slow down because of generally poor road conditions.
- This, of course, does not factor any of the weapons seized by any of the other municipal police forces or any of the RCMP detachments in the Lower Mainland in the same period.
3 [mass noun] The action or process of detaching; separation: structural problems resulted in cracking and detachment of the wall...
- Retinal detachment (separation of the retina from the pigment epithelium behind it) is a rarer cause of blindness.
- A second form of retinal detachment may develop when new blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina.
- The implications of this idea extend beyond vascular disease to other matrix remodeling and detachment processes such as cancer.
Synonyms
loosening, disconnection, unfastening, disengagement, parting, separation, uncoupling, removal, loosing, untying, unhitching, undoing, unhooking, unbuttoning, unzipping, freeing, severing, pulling off, cutting off, hacking off, chopping off, pruning, breaking off, disuniting
Origin
Mid 17th century: from French détachement, from détacher 'to detach' (see detach).
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