house of detention

: a place where prisoners and occasionally witnesses are detained pending a trial compare house of correction, jail, lockup, penitentiary, prison

Browse Nearby Words

house of delegates
house of detention
House of Lords
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“House of detention.” Merriam-Webster.com Legal Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/legal/house%20of%20detention. Accessed 22 Jul. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Words You Always Have to Look Up

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Words You Always Have to Look Up

Democracy or Republic: What's the difference?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ten Painless Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language

Our Best Historical Slang Terms

Better Ways to Say 'This Sucks'

8 Words with Fascinating Histories
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Ten Painless Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
a plate of arepas
Name That Dish! Some mouth-watering food for thought
See All