detainiert

Detainiert is the past participle of the German verb detainieren, meaning to detain or hold someone in custody by authorities. The term is a loanword from English and is used in German, but it is less common in formal legal language, where terms like festnehmen, festhalten or in Haft nehmen are more typical.

As a participle, detainiert describes a person who has already been deprived of liberty for a period, usually for investigative purposes. It can appear in sentences such as “Die Person wurde detainiert.” In standard German, however, more common equivalents are preferred in most contexts.

Legal context and usage: Detention can refer to measures by police or judicial authorities during investigations. There are related concepts such as vorläufige Festnahme (temporary detention) and Untersuchungshaft (pre-trial detention). While detainiert communicates the state of having been detained, it is not the formal term used in statutes; the precise legal status is conveyed by the appropriate terms like Festnahme or Untersuchungshaft.

Style and nuance: In journalism and everyday speech, detainiert may be encountered but can sound anglicized or informal. In official documents, professional writing generally favors established German terms to avoid ambiguity and maintain formality. Human rights considerations apply to all forms of detention, with emphasis on legality, necessity, and proportionality.

See also: Festnahme, Untersuchungshaft, Haftbefehl.