detains

verb

present tense third-person singular of detain
1
as in apprehends
to take or keep (someone) in confinement by authority of law Police detained the suspect.

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2
as in delays
to keep (someone or something) from proceeding or progressing She sent word that she had been unavoidably detained. The plane was detained for hours due to inclement weather.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of detains The Midwest Regional Reception Center detains close to 500 fathers, mothers, spouses, cousins and friends on behalf of ICE. — Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 18 Aug. 2026 The policy guidance applies to agents under Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that detains and ultimately deports undocumented immigrants. — Philip Wang, Time, 14 July 2026 Alligator Alcatraz houses a few hundred employees in trailers and detains about 650 male immigrants in large tents; until a few weeks ago, the number of those being detained was nearly 1,500. — Eric Schlosser, The Atlantic, 4 June 2026 What are your rights if ICE detains you? — Laura Daniella Sepulveda, AZCentral.com, 29 Jan. 2026 Independent groups like Human Rights Watch say the Venezuelan government intimidates human rights advocates, arrests and detains protesters and harasses journalists. — Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 14 Jan. 2026 The Pinault family owns 42 percent of shares in Kering and detains 59 percent of voting rights. — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 9 Sep. 2025 The play is set in the real-life town of Lumpkin, whose economy has become reliant on a private prison that detains immigrants. — Martha Ross, Mercury News, 7 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for detains
  1. apprehends
  2. delays
  3. arrests
  4. slows
  5. seizes
Verb
  • John Early, as anyone encountering his work soon apprehends, chooses the latter.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 7 June 2026
  • Though the team immediately apprehends a suspect, the Marshals end up taking criticism from both sides.
    — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 21 Mar. 2026
Definition of apprehends
Verb
  • Even if Illinois delays its natural gas plant closings, the state will need more batteries, and Richardson is rushing to provide them.
    — John Lippert, Chicago Tribune, 14 Oct. 2026
  • In this scenario, the heart attack now drives the pricing, while the prostate cancer delays the application.
    — Howard Wolinsky, STAT, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of delays
Verb
  • Keith arrests our thinking, and cons us into suppressing our critical faculties with the same kind of internalized surveillance that philosopher Michel Foucault broke down to describe a prison’s use of the panopticon in Discipline and Punish.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
  • Devlin throws a punch at Stone when the chief arrests him for drunken driving.
    — Sandra Dallas, Denver Post, 19 Apr. 2026
Definition of arrests
Verb
  • An injury can damage a vein, while prolonged inactivity slows blood flow.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Thus, Planet 1 slows down and begins to lag behind Planet 2, widening the gap between them.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of slows
Verb
  • Sid is smart enough to sniff this out, and the show seizes the opportunity to raise the romantic stakes through an adorably British expression of mutual libidinousness.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
  • That reporting revealed that the state frequently seizes money from legal settlements stemming from medical malpractice, police brutality, workplace injury and other wrongful death lawsuits.
    — Ginny Monk, Hartford Courant, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of seizes

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Cite this Entry

“Detains.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/detains. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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