Meanings
plural detention centres
- A facility in which people are detained (held in custody); a jail.
1 more example
2002, Russell Hogg, Chapter 1: Prisoners and the Penal Estate in Australia, David Brown, Meredith Wilkie (editors), Prisoners as Citizens: Human Rights in Australian Prisons, page 3, All jurisdictions have their own prison systems, although the Australia Capital Territory (ACT) has only one remand centre and one periodic detention centre.
- AustraliaAn immigration detention facility; a facility in which people who have attempted to enter Australia without prior authorisation are detained, pending a decision on whether they are to be accepted as refugees or returned to their country of origin.
People landing on these islands could also be transferred to detention centres on Nauru or Manus Island and had no access to Australia′s legal system.
2009, Linda Briskman, Chris Goddard, Susie Latham, Human Rights Overboard: Seeking Asylum in Australia, page 312 more examples
New detention centres were opened, all in remote areas — at Woomera in the South Australian desert in November 1999, and the Curtin Detention Centre at Derby in Western Australia in February 2000.
2004, Brian Galligan, Winsome Roberts, Australian Citizenship, page 69One of the main features of Australia′s ‘Pacific Solution’ is that it involves the use of the Australian Navy to prevent boat people from landing on mainland Australia. The boat people are then transferred to detention centres on offshore Australian Territories which have been excised from the country′s migration zone where regular immigration rules are in application.⁷⁸ Detention centres for such transfers have also been set up on Nauru and Manus Island (Papua New Guinea).⁷⁹
2005, Geoff Leane, Barbara Von Tigerstrom, International Law Issues in the South Pacific, page 30
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna large cell where prisoners (people awaiting trial or sentence or refugees or illegal immigrants) are confined together temporarily
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 關押中心 /关押中心, 關押中心 /关押中心
- 關押中心 /关押中心 (guānyā zhōngxīn)immigration detention facility
- 關押中心 /关押中心 (guānyā zhōngxīn)facility in which people are detained
Dutch detentiecentrum, gesloten asielopvang
- detentiecentrumimmigration detention facility
- gesloten asielopvangimmigration detention facility
- gesloten asielzoekerscentrumimmigration detention facility
- detentiecentrumfacility in which people are detained
Finnish pidätyskeskus, pidätyskeskus
- pidätyskeskusimmigration detention facility
- pidätyskeskusfacility in which people are detained
Indonesian rumah tahanan
- rumah tahananfacility in which people are detained
Polish ośrodek detencyjny, ośrodek detencyjny
- ośrodek detencyjnyimmigration detention facility
- ośrodek detencyjnyfacility in which people are detained
Cite this entry
detention centre. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detention%20centre
“detention centre.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detention%20centre. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “detention centre,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/detention%20centre.
Source: detention centre on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.