How to Use detention in a Sentence

detention

noun
Definition of detentionnext
Synonyms for detentionnext
  • The jail is only used for brief detentions.
  • He got detention for being late to class.
  • They both got three detentions this year.
  • The detention of the two activists is a sign of the times.
    — Anna Gordon, TIME, 23 Oct. 2023
  • The third bit, of course, leans into a school/detention joke.
    — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The detention had been extended in August through at least Nov. 30, the press service of the court said at the time.
    — Kevin Shalvey, ABC News, 27 Nov. 2023
  • My team had been told I’d been transferred from detention but didn’t know when or where.
    — Brittney Griner, TIME, 3 May 2024
  • That youth is due back in court for a detention hearing on May 15 and also may be tried as an adult.
    — Robert A. Cronkleton, Kansas City Star, 3 May 2024
  • And now Guo will spend the night in jail, after pleading not guilty and consenting to detention.
    — Bob Van Voris, Fortune, 16 Mar. 2023
  • Why is there such a strong reaction to Khan’s detention?
    — Riazat Butt, Chicago Tribune, 11 May 2023
  • Every old farm field, railroad right of way, and shopping center detention basin is chock full of the stinky trees.
    — Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 22 Mar. 2024
  • His detention of about two years was the longest for an American.
    — Time, 19 July 2023
  • In the early years of the detention operation, some of the youngest prisoners were teenagers.
    — Carol Rosenberg, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2025
  • The two staffers may be a combination of one deputy and one detention deputy, but never two unarmed deputies.
    — Sarah Nelson, The Indianapolis Star, 30 Aug. 2023
  • The protests in Iran, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country’s morality police, weigh heavy on her.
    — Robert Scheer, The Indianapolis Star, 5 Dec. 2022
  • More than a million have been sent to detention centers, forced to denounce Islam and swear fealty to Xi and the party.
    — Jon Gambrell, ajc, 9 Dec. 2022
  • His wife, Vida, also a U.S. citizen, was in Iran at the time of his detention and was barred from leaving the country.
    — Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, 19 Sep. 2023
  • However, while still living abroad to avoid detention, she was cleared in March.
    — Koh Ewe, TIME, 31 May 2024
  • Ivory Coast has been demanding the release of the soldiers since their detention on July 10.
    — Baba Ahmed, ajc, 15 Aug. 2022
  • This Wednesday marks 1,300 days of detention for Paul Whelan.
    — Paulina Smolinski, CBS News, 19 July 2022
  • At a preschool carnival, the two joke about having been to juvenile detention over the summer.
    — Olivia McCormack, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2023
  • Griner remained in pre-trial detention for more than three months prior to this month's trial.
    — Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY, 20 July 2022
  • Soto was hired by the Sheriff’s Department in 1998 as a detentions and court services deputy.
    — David Hernandez, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 May 2023
  • The judge then raised the issue of how to proceed with a detention hearing with Edwards' mental fitness in question.
    — Rich Schapiro, NBC News, 5 Feb. 2023
  • Last year, the turnover rate for detention officers hit 70 percent.
    — Jolie McCullough, San Antonio Express-News, 19 Sep. 2022
  • The state will now instead pay 75% of those costs, but still cover only 50% of the cost of detention and longer-term residential placement.
    — Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica, 13 Dec. 2023
  • Prosecutors asked the court to impose a sentence of 90 days of home detention and three years of probation, court records show.
    — Quinlan Bentley, The Enquirer, 5 Nov. 2022
  • Last month, a Moscow court refused to hear an appeal against his pre-trial detention.
    — Darya Tarasova, CNN, 23 Oct. 2023
  • At a detention hearing in Shry's case last year, a defense attorney suggested the court order her to undergo mental health and substance abuse treatment.
    — Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2025
  • The suit maintains that there is no legitimate reason to do that because the government has ample detention capacity inside the United States, and because holding migrants in the U.S. is more financially and operationally practical.
    — Sacha Pfeiffer, NPR, 1 Mar. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'detention.' 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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