What does "detain" mean?

To keep something from proceeding or coming to completion; to delay.

What is a synonym for "detain"?

Common synonyms include: confine, delay, stay, delay, keep, restrain.

verb

verb ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Verb

1
To keep something from proceeding or coming to completion; to delay. transitive
2
cause to be slowed down or delayed wordnet
3
To keep someone from proceeding by holding them back or making claims on their attention. transitive
4
stop or halt wordnet
5
To keep back or from; to withhold. archaic, transitive
"Detain not the wages of the hireling."

Show 3 more definitions

6
deprive of freedom; take into confinement wordnet
7
To put someone under custody. transitive
"In April of 2009, however, the disease was found to suddenly no longer be appearing in newly-hatched chickens, and, upon review, it was discovered that Dr. Wildcat had modified 6002 without authorization, removing the disease from the genome. She's detained and questioned by Muller, and, even though she tries to lie that she didn't do anything, they have footage of her ascending the tree on her own."
8
To seize goods for official purposes. transitive

"To my surprise, the young lady held up her gloved hand to detain me."

From Old French detenir. Cognate with Italian detenere, Portuguese deter, Romanian deține, and Spanish detener.

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