political detainee
1
7.7
- noun
- /pəˈlɪtɪkəl dɪˈteɪni/
:
detenido político
- Zimbabwe's last political detainee, in custody since September 1987, was released the day the emergency ended.
- release of political detainees
Examples
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The government is facing international pressure to free all political detainees who oppose its policies.
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Last week, the wives and family members of a number of high-profile political detainees were arrested at a religious ceremony in Tehran, and 19 of them continue to be held, reformist websites have reported.
Blog text (31) -
Large numbers of political detainees, some imprisoned since 1967, have been released, and the restrictions imposed on freedom of speech and association have been lifted.
Academic text (2001) -
But this can only be done at the expense of human rights, as can be seen in the systematic torture inflicted on political detainees.
Academic text (2004) -
In these drawings, Stopforth's attention to the specific effectively anchored the deaths of political detainees in the ordinary world of everyday experience.
Academic text (2004) -
As Indres Naidoo points out about political detainees on Robben Island in South Africa, the use of "we" was forbidden.
Academic text (2004) -
Political detainees were held without trial; many were tortured, and those held at the Catele Road Prison in Luanda were tortured with electric shocks.
Academic text (1990) -
In Syria, which has gained a reputation for long-term detention, the prisons were crowded with political detainees and prisoners of conscience, some of whom had been incarcerated without trial for more than 20 years.
Academic text (1990) -
Many political detainees have suffered greatly while being held for their beliefs.
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After years of silence, former political detainees are now speaking out about their experiences in prison.
Synonyms
∞
1.1
A person kept locked because they broke the law or were captured during a war
95
6.8
A person authorities hold for legal or political reasons
56
4.2
A person put in jail for their political beliefs or actions
3
6.5
A person who police take to a station because they may have broken the law
3
9.0
A person who is held in a camp without trial during a war, often for political reasons
Antonyms
- Formal
1
5.3
Freedom to take part in government and to use rights protected by law
How Restricted
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and predictably derived from combining 'political' (relating to politics) with 'detainee' (a person held in custody), yielding someone detained for political reasons. This adjective+noun composition follows standard compositional semantics and cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Political detainee comes from the simple idea of a person held because of their politics: political means a person's beliefs or actions about government, and detainee means someone kept by the government. So, the term means 'a person held because of their political beliefs or activities'.