{
    "term": "detain",
    "partOfSpeech": "verb",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "verbForms": {
        "presentSimple": {
            "iYouWeThey": "detain",
            "heSheIt": "detains"
        },
        "pastSimple": "detained",
        "pastParticiple": "detained",
        "ingForm": "detaining"
    },
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "to keep somebody in an official place, such as a police station, a prison or a hospital, and prevent them from leaving",
            "sensetop": "detain somebody",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "One man has been detained for questioning."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He has been detained without trial for nearly two years now."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Over 60 people have been detained in connection with the coup attempt."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Prisoners cannot be detained indefinitely without charge."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She was arrested and detained for distributing pro-democracy leaflets."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The law allows police to detain suspects for questioning for up to 48 hours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Two people were detained in hospital following the crash."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Two men have been detained in custody."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Law and justice", "Crime and punishment"],
            "collocations": {
                "adverb": ["briefly", "indefinitely", "illegally"],
                "verb + detain": ["need not"],
                "preposition": ["for", "in connection with"],
                "phrases": [
                    "be detained in custody",
                    "be detained in hospital",
                    "detain somebody without charge"
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "to delay somebody or prevent them from going somewhere",
            "sensetop": "detain somebody",
            "labels": "(formal)",
            "cefr": "c1",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I'm sorry—he'll be late; he's been detained at a meeting."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The minister was unavoidably detained in Lisbon on affairs of state."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪn/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detain__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪnz/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detains__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪnd/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detained__gb_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪnɪŋ/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detaining__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪn/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detain__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪnz/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detains__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪnd/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detained__us_1.mp3"
            },
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈteɪnɪŋ/",
                "audio": "de/detain/detaining__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "late Middle English (in the sense ‘be afflicted with sickness or infirmity’): from Old French detenir, from a variant of Latin detinere, from de- ‘away, aside’ + tenere ‘to hold’."
}