Custody

//ˈkʌstədiː// noun

noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The legal right to take care of something or somebody, especially children. uncountable, usually

    "The court awarded custody to the child's father."

  2. 2
    (with ‘in’) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child wordnet
  3. 3
    Temporary possession or care of somebody else's property. uncountable, usually

    "I couldn't pay the bill and now my passport is in custody of the hotel management."

  4. 4
    holding by the police wordnet
  5. 5
    The state of being imprisoned or detained, usually pending a trial. uncountable, usually

    "He was mistreated while in police custody."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    a state of being confined (usually for a short time) wordnet
  2. 7
    An area under the jurisdiction of a custos within the Order of Friars Minor. uncountable, usually

    "The Custody of the Holy Land includes the monasteries of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Jerusalem."

Synonyms

All synonyms
detentionhandsadministrationauspicescaptainshipcaptivity

Example

More examples

"The man was held in police custody."

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin custōdia (“a keeping, watch, guard, prison”), from custōs (“a keeper, watchman, guard”). Doublet of custode.

Related phrases

chain of custodydata custodyjoint custodymaternal custodypaternal custodyprotective custodysole custodyyouth custody centre

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.