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to detain
01
to officially hold someone in a place, such as a jail, and not let them go
Transitive: to detain sb
Grammatical Information
Composition
Simple
Action verb
Regular
Present tense
detain
3rd person singular
detains
Present participle
detaining
Past simple
detained
Past participle
detained
Examples
The immigration officers have the authority to detain individuals entering the country illegally.
02
to hold someone or something back, preventing further action or movement
Transitive: to detain sb
Examples
The storm detained us at the airport for several hours.
Lexical Tree
detainment
detain
