Adjacent Words

Detachment definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DETACHMENT, n.
1. The act of detaching.
2. A body of troops, selected or taken from the main army, and employed on some special service or expedition.
3. A number of ships, taken from a fleet, and sent on a separate service.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: avoiding emotional involvement [syn: withdrawal, detachment]
2: the act of releasing from an attachment or connection [syn: detachment, disengagement]
3: the state of being isolated or detached; "the insulation of England was preserved by the English Channel" [syn: insulation, insularity, insularism, detachment]
4: a small unit of troops of special composition
5: coming apart [syn: separation, breakup, detachment]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1669 1. the action or process of detaching ; separation 2. a. the dispatch of a body of troops or part of a fleet from the main body for a special mission or service b. the part so dispatched c. a permanently organized separate unit usually smaller than a platoon and of special composition 3. a. indifference to worldly concerns ; aloofness b. freedom from bias or prejudice

U.S. Military Dictionary

(*) 1. A part of a unit separated from its main organization for duty elsewhere. 2. A temporary military or naval unit formed from other units or parts of units. Also called DET.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a a state of aloofness from or indifference to other people, one's surroundings, public opinion, etc. b disinterested independence of judgement. 2 a the act or process of detaching or being detached. b an instance of this. 3 Mil. a separate group or unit of an army etc. used for a specific purpose. Etymology: F détachement (as DETACH)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Detachment De*tach"ment, n. [Cf. F. d['e]tachement.] 1. The act of detaching or separating, or the state of being detached. 2. That which is detached; especially, a body of troops or part of a fleet sent from the main body on special service. Troops . . . widely scattered in little detachments. --Bancroft. 3. Abstraction from worldly objects; renunciation. A trial which would have demanded of him a most heroic faith and the detachment of a saint. --J. H. Newman.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(detachments) 1. Detachment is the feeling that you have of not being personally involved in something or of having no emotional interest in it. ...a doctor's professional detachment... 2. A detachment is a group of soldiers who are sent away from the main group to do a special job. N-COUNT: oft N of n

Moby Thesaurus

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