detaining

4 definitions • 4 examples

present participle of

to force someone officially to stay in a place:

A suspect has been detained by the police for questioning.

Several of the injured were detained overnight in hospital.

to delay someone for a short length of time:

be unavoidably detained I'm sorry I'm late - I was unavoidably detained.

to keep someone in prison for as long as the courts feel is necessary:

She was convicted of murder in 2008 and detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.