detain
v.to officially prevent someone from leaving a place, usually for legal reasons. It can also mean to delay someone so they are late for something.
v.to keep someone in official custody, typically for questioning or as a legal precaution; alternatively, to delay or hold back a person from proceeding. Transitive — requires a direct object.
“The police decided to detain the suspect for further questioning.”
“Customs officers may detain passengers if their travel documents appear to be fraudulent or incomplete.”
“The unexpected meeting at the office served to detain him just long enough to miss the final train of the evening.”
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object. In legal contexts, it is frequently used in the passive voice ('was detained').
“But the Assam government invoked the National Security Act, a sweeping law that allows authorities to detain people for extended periods without trial, and his release was denied.”
“The Qatari government denies detaining any Iranian pilots.”
From Old French detenir. Cognate with Italian detenere, Portuguese deter, Romanian deține, and Spanish detener.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.