detentionnoun
uk/dɪˈten.ʃən/us/dɪˈten.ʃən/[ U ] the act of officially detaining someone:
Concern has been expressed about the death in detention of a number of political prisoners.
[ C or U ] a form of punishment in which children are made to stay at school for a short time after classes have ended:
She's had four detentions this term.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Putting people in prison
- at His/Her Majesty's pleasure idiom
- bang
- bang sb up
- bar
- behind bars idiom
- bird
- hold
- imprison
- incarcerate
- internment
- jail
- lag
- lock
- pen
- restraint
- rot
- rot in jail, prison, etc. idiom
- send
- send sb down
- serve
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Punishing & punishments