detentar
Spanish, verb/detenˈtaɾ/
detentar is spelled D-E-T-E-N-T-A-R (8 letters) and appears about once in every 8 million words in written Spanish, the 105,087th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Detentar is a Spanish verb meaning “to hold or retain” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Ejercer ilegítimamente un puesto de responsabilidad o de representación en un ente público o privado, o de…”.
What does detentar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to hold or retain
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Ejercer ilegítimamente un puesto de responsabilidad o de representación en un ente público o privado, o de poder legislativo o gubernamental. 2. Retener, sin derecho, algo que claramente es ajeno.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of detentar
- detento first-person present singular
- detenté first-person preterite singular
- detentado participle past
- detentando gerund
- detentada feminine participle past
- detentados masculine participle past
- detentadas feminine participle past
- detentas indicative informal present
- detentás indicative informal present
- detenta indicative present singular
- detentamos first-person indicative plural
- detentáis indicative plural present
- detentan indicative plural present
- detentaba first-person imperfect indicative
- detentabas imperfect indicative second-person
- detentábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- detentabais imperfect indicative plural
- detentaban imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce detentar?
- /detenˈtaɾ/
- [d̪e.t̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]
- [d̪et̪ẽn̪ˈt̪aɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is detentar in Spanish?
detentar appears about once in every 8 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).