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.
  • Nearly two-thirds of those who are detained are Black teens.
    — Molly Parker, ProPublica, 8 Nov. 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • For all its efforts, though, a record number of migrants were detained by U.S. border agents last year.
    — Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 13 May 2023
  • Ford has been ordered detained ahead of his federal trial, set for April 29, in Salt Lake City.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Fox News, 7 Mar. 2024
  • The student was detained, and there were no injuries reported.
    — Sarah Ritter, Kansas City Star, 26 Feb. 2024
  • The suspect was detained and released after a search warrant was issued for the suspect's home.
    — Julie Sharp, CBS News, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Thirty-six of his friends — writers, scholars, activists and lawyers — had been detained or sentenced to prison.
    — Han Zhang, New York Times, 3 Aug. 2023
  • The American soldier detained in North Korea may have gotten there on a tour bus.
    — Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY, 18 July 2023
  • That's that practice of detaining migrants and then releasing them with the promise of a future court date.
    — CBS News, 4 Feb. 2024
  • Plaintiffs in the case, some of whose names have been anonymized, allege they were detained for months and years at a time and subjected to constant surveillance.
    — Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2023
  • Franco, who was detained Monday in the northern province of Puerto Plata, hasn't been charged with any crimes.
    — CBS News, 5 Jan. 2024
  • But in 2021, she was detained by ICE for overstaying her visa and placed under house arrest the following year.
    — Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 15 Aug. 2023
  • The court proceedings were held in a jail outside Islamabad where Khan is detained for the secret cable case.
    — TIME, 23 Oct. 2023
  • He was detained and released more than an hour after a traffic stop in Simi Valley.
    — Tyler Kingkade, NBC News, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Police found a car nearby that matched the vehicle’s damage and detained two people.
    — Nicole Acosta, Peoplemag, 15 Nov. 2023
  • The police briefly detained six of those involved before releasing them.
    — Anant Gupta, Washington Post, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Dozens were detained, and an unknown number remain in custody.
    — Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2023
  • Many of the other Americans detained in North Korea had either already been in the country as part of a tour for some sort of work assignment.
    — Time, 19 July 2023
  • All occupants in the rideshare vehicle were detained, but the driver was soon released, Harvey said.
    — Grace Toohey, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023
  • It was forced to shut down after he was detained, due to a lack of resources and its journalists fleeing the country for fear of prosecution.
    — Ed O'Keefe, CBS News, 27 Mar. 2024
  • And there are at least two dozen Americans considered wrongfully detained and held in countries all around the world.
    — CBS News, 22 Oct. 2023
  • Some people were forced into holding areas with no idea if or when they would be released or why they were being detained.
    — USA Today, 31 May 2023
  • Police had made contact with her and the children in Redding, about 15 miles north of Anderson, but she and the children were not detained because there was no warrant.
    — Salvador Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2023

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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