Words / D / Medicine

detention

noun/dɪˈtɛnʃən/

B1CEFR level
25/100Rarity: fairly common
TechnicalRegister

The lawful holding of a person in hospital for assessment or treatment against their wishes.

The circumstances leading to his detention were carefully explained to him and his family.

Topic: Mental health nursing in Medical English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More medicine words: Mental health nursing