detention C1 Topic:Education & Learning US /dɪˈtɛnʃn̩/ See IPA manual Freq #6745 Meanings 1 noun The act of officially holding someone in custody, usually for a short time. Their detention was clearly politically motivated. 2 noun A punishment in which a student must stay at school after class. He got detention for being late three times. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · the act of officially... custody Word family Forms detentions Derived forms nondetentionpredetentionredetention Related forms detain Common collocations detention center Noun + noun Etymology AI details Borrowed from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, detentionem. Equivalent to detain + -tion. détention Middle French detentio Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Education & Learning Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # detention **Type:** Word **Level:** C1 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /dɪˈtɛnʃn̩/ **Frequency rank:** 6745 ## Meanings 1. The act of officially holding someone in custody, usually for a short time. 2. A punishment in which a student must stay at school after class. ## Examples - Their detention was clearly politically motivated. - He got detention for being late three times. ## Derived Forms - nondetention - predetention - redetention ## Related Forms - detain ## Roots and Affixes - Root: détention - Root: detentio ## Etymology Borrowed from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, detentionem. Equivalent to detain + -tion. ## AI Etymology Detention is borrowed from Middle French détention, from Latin detentio, detentionem. Equivalent to detain + -tion. The historical chain includes détention (Middle French) and detentio (Latin). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as nondetention, predetention, and redetention and related forms such as detain. In present use it covers the act of officially holding someone in custody, usually for a short time and a punishment in which a student must stay at school after class. ## Topics - Education & Learning - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown