How to Use detain in a Sentence

detain

verb
Definition of detainnext
Synonyms for detainnext
  • They were detained by the police for questioning.
  • He claimed he had been illegally detained.
  • Unexpected business had detained her.
  • Wright, who was unarmed, resisted as the officers attempted to detain him.
    — Annabelle Timsit, Washington Post, 22 June 2022
  • Porter said after the woman was tackled, several people left the sidewalk to come to her aid, prompting police to detain them.
    — Aya Elamroussi, CNN, 26 June 2022
  • Nelson made his initial court appearance on Tuesday and was temporarily detained by a judge.
    — Clara McMichael, ABC News, 30 Oct. 2024
  • The complaint also said that Combs has had no contact with Doe in the years since and noted that Combs is currently detained.
    — Marlene Lenthang, NBC News, 31 Oct. 2024
  • Lopez, 51, was trying to detain a man suspected of theft when he was shot, according to Sheriff David Rhodes.
    — Laura Daniella Sepulveda, The Arizona Republic, 1 July 2022
  • The Biden administration never disputed that it is required by law to detain those immigrants.
    — John Fritze, USA TODAY, 30 June 2022
  • Immigrant advocates say the pandemic is proof that the U.S. doesn’t need to detain immigrants as much as authorities have claimed.
    — Amy Taxin, ajc, 4 July 2022
  • One person has been detained after firefighters putting out a house fire in Temple City discovered three bodies inside, authorities said.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2024
  • The man came out of the apartment just before 5 a.m. and was detained by deputies.
    — Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 10 Apr. 2024
  • Hochberg said Walls was attempting to detain the man for the crime and denied that Walls choked the man.
    — Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, 31 Dec. 2022
  • One of them joked that I might be detained once inside.
    — TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
  • Four were detained in Georgia in late April, along with more than 150 books.
    — Rachel Donadio, New York Times, 1 May 2024
  • Nearly two-thirds of those who are detained are Black teens.
    — Molly Parker, ProPublica, 8 Nov. 2023
  • Smotrich, then 25, was detained and questioned for weeks.
    — Mark Mazzetti Jonathan Davis Anna Diamond David Mason, New York Times, 16 May 2024
  • Some people were detained, their hands bound with zip ties.
    — TIME, 2 May 2024
  • The suspects were stopped in a Winn-Dixie parking lot and detained.
    — Louis Casiano, Fox News, 3 July 2024
  • Hours before the game, he was detained along with a few of his Dolphins teammates.
    — Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 9 Sep. 2024
  • Officers, gun in hand, then approach and detain the man.
    — Li Cohen, CBS News, 26 Jan. 2023
  • Tens of thousands more are detained each month at the southern border trying to join them.
    — Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 30 Nov. 2023
  • Two other juveniles were stopped and detained in the 1400 block of Southwest Bertha Blvd.
    — oregonlive, 9 Apr. 2023
  • Officers in the area saw a large group of people exit the restaurant and detained one person.
    — Christian Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2023
  • The accused will continue to be detained until the court approves their sureties.
    — Rebecca Rosenberg, Fox News, 2 Aug. 2023
  • In Haiti, dozens have been detained, but after nearly two years, there have been few, if any, other charges.
    — Amanda Coletta, Washington Post, 2 June 2023
  • LeFleur then instructed Baldwin to stop talking and stood next to him while he was detained.
    — NBC News, 10 July 2024
  • The majority of the protesters were detained for up to two days at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the firm said.
    — Niha Masih, Washington Post, 29 Aug. 2023
  • Rosario was detained after a 14-year-old San Diego County girl was found at his barracks on base, which is at the north end of the county, on June 28.
    — Bill Feather, NBC News, 11 Apr. 2024
  • In the video, officers appeared to be forcibly detaining some men.
    — Samya Kullab and Elise Morton, Los Angeles Times, 12 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'detain.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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