Meaning of arrest in English

arrest

verb [ T ]

/əˈrest/ us

/əˈrest/

arrest verb [T] (CATCH)

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If the police arrest someone, they take them away to ask them about a crime that they might have committed:

He was arrested when customs officers found drugs in his bag.

arrest someone for something The police arrested her for drinking and driving.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to find and take a person who has done something wrong

catchThey were caught trying to smuggle cigarettes across the border.
arrestHe was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to property.
place/put under arrestThe suspect was placed under arrest and charged with armed assault.
captureThe soldiers were captured by enemy forces.
apprehendThe police have apprehended two individuals in connection with the crime.
nabThe cops nabbed him as he tried to get away.

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More examplesFewer examples

He put up a fight when the police tried to arrest him.
23 people were arrested and large quantities of heroin were seized in a dawn raid.
Police arrested several of the demonstrators.
The burglars have been arrested but the jewellery is still missing.
A woman and two men were arrested on the day after the explosion.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Arresting & charging

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arrest verb [T] (STOP)

formal

to stop or interrupt the development of something:

The treatment has so far done little to arrest the spread of the cancer.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Cancelling and interrupting

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arrest verb [T] (MAKE NOTICE)

formal

to attract or catch someone's attention:

A photo of a small boy arrested my attention.

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Attracting and tempting

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arrest

noun [ C or U ]

/əˈrest/ us

/əˈrest/

the act of arresting someone:

Two arrests were made, but the men were later released without charge.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

to find and take a person who has done something wrong

catchThey were caught trying to smuggle cigarettes across the border.
arrestHe was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to property.
place/put under arrestThe suspect was placed under arrest and charged with armed assault.
captureThe soldiers were captured by enemy forces.
apprehendThe police have apprehended two individuals in connection with the crime.
nabThe cops nabbed him as he tried to get away.

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under arrest

If someone is under arrest, they have been arrested by the police:

She was stopped outside the shop and placed under arrest.

By morning most of the plotters were under arrest.

The police soon had the culprit under arrest.

Jones is now under arrest for manslaughter.

You are not under arrest, so you are free to leave if you want.

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The bomb attack was in retaliation for the recent arrest of two well-known terrorists.
His lawyer put him in the picture about what had happened since his arrest.
The US lodged a formal protest against the arrest of the foreign reporters.
After his arrest in 1998, he checked himself into rehab to get over his heroin addiction.
wrongful arrest

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Arresting & charging

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(Definition of arrest from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

arrest | American Dictionary

arrest

verb [ T ]

/əˈrest/

arrest verb [T] (CATCH)

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(of the police) to use legal authority to catch and take someone to a place where the person may be accused of a crime:

Kansas City police arrested a bank robber.

arrest verb [T] (STOP)

to stop or slow an activity:

Antibiotics arrest the development of harmful bacteria.

arrest

noun [ C/U ]

/əˈrest/

arrest noun [C/U] (CATCH)

the act of using legal authority to catch and take someone to a place where the person may be accused of a crime:

[ C ] FBI agents made the arrest.

[ U ] He was placed under arrest by federal marshals.

(Definition of arrest from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of arrest

arrest

After two years of tolerance toward liberal clubs, their leaders were arrested and organisations disbanded in 1902.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, in most species, spermatogenesis stops after the development of secondary spermatogonia during adult ecdysis and remains arrested until the adult male begins feeding.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We expect that terms left aside from our analysis, as disper sive terms, may be responsible for arresting wave vector spread.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

News of artists' arrests and confiscation of their material served only to popularise their name and created a higher demand for their tapes.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There would be no need for curfew as all the dissidents were arrested at less than the first second of the coup.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

At the end of the war he went into hiding, but was arrested in 1948, tried and sentenced to death.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Why was the village head omitted when his accomplices were arrested the next day, and why was he still at liberty?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Besides disorderly conduct, the police increasingly arrested young people for theft.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A significant linear trend was found, whereas quadratic and cubic trends, which would have indicated slowed or arrested development, were not significant.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Only persons arrested at both age periods were defined as persistent criminals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Success on this domain required that the person have no juvenile or adult arrests.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A variety of studies using court records, arrests, and self-report measures indicates that juvenile crime is increasing proportionately for both boys and girls.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this context, it would mean that all boys who were arrested early also had been identified even earlier as an antisocial child.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Altogether twenty-two clergy were arrested in 1944-9.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In truth, many of those arrested had only the faintest connection with reformist books ; this was not a precise operation but a thoroughgoing purge.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with arrest

arrest

These are words often used in combination with arrest.

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arbitrary arrest

His arbitrary arrest, together with the calumnies and evidence fabricated against him, had helped to forge the revolutionary.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

cardiopulmonary arrest

Most patients died of refractory cardiopulmonary arrest or haemorrhage, however, in 21% haemodynamic and ventilator support was withdrawn after the diagnosis of brain death.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

circulatory arrest

Many studies suggest alpha-stat and alkaline-stat strategy as a preferred management prior to circulatory arrest and during the period of rewarming.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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What is the pronunciation of arrest?

B1,B2

Translations of arrest

in Chinese (Traditional)

抓住, 逮捕, 拘捕…

Meaning of arrest in English

arrest verb [T] (CATCH)

arrest verb [T] (STOP)

arrest verb [T] (MAKE NOTICE)

arrest | American Dictionary

arrest verb [T] (CATCH)

arrest verb [T] (STOP)

arrest noun [C/U] (CATCH)

Examples of arrest

Collocations with arrest

arrest

Translations of arrest

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