detención
nounCEFR B2
What does “detención” mean in English?
arrest, detention — the act of holding a person under authority; a period of custody
arrest, detention — the act of holding a person under authority; a period of custody (la detención preventiva; detención arbitraria; el detenido/la detenida)
Example sentences
La detención del periodista fue condenada por organismos internacionales de derechos humanos como una represalia inaceptable.
The journalist's detention was condemned by international human rights bodies as an unacceptable act of reprisal.
El tribunal decretó la detención preventiva del acusado a la espera del inicio del juicio.
The court ordered the accused to be held in preventive detention pending the start of the trial.
Según la Constitución, nadie puede ser sometido a una detención arbitraria sin que se respeten las garantías procesales.
According to the Constitution, no one may be subjected to arbitrary detention without procedural safeguards being respected.
How to use it
La detención (noun, feminine) means 'arrest, detention, stopping' — primarily in legal contexts, the act of holding a person under authority. At B2 it is frequent in news and human rights discourse. Core collocations: la detención preventiva/policial/arbitraria; practicar/efectuar/ordenar una detención; la detención ilegal; el detenido/la detenida (the detainee). The verb form is detener (to arrest, to stop): la policía detuvo al sospechoso. Distinguish from arresto (arrest — also used, but detención is more formal in legal reporting) and encarcelamiento (imprisonment — a longer custodial state).
Common mistake
La detención is the abstract noun — the detenido/a is the person detained. In news reporting, 'X was arrested' = X fue detenido/a (passive construction with detener). Don't confuse with parada (a stop/halt — e.g. una parada de autobús) which shares the sense of stopping but has no legal meaning.