Arrestees

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals who have been taken into custody by law enforcement for suspected involvement in a crime
2. persons detained pending legal proceedings or investigation into specific actions
3. those subjected to the formal process of arrest, often requiring identification and processing by authorities

Etymology: "Arrestees" is the plural of "arrestee," a word built from "arrest" plus the suffix "-ee," which in English denotes the person who is the object of an action. The "-ee" ending came into English through Anglo-Norman French, where it appeared in legal terms such as "lessee" (someone to whom a lease is granted) and "grantee" (someone to whom a grant is made). English speakers later applied it freely to create pairs like "employee," "trustee," and "payee," so "arrestee" follows a well-worn pattern. "Arrest" itself has a more dramatic background. It comes from Old French "arester," meaning "to stop" or "to halt," and that word traces back to Latin "arrestare," from "ad-" (toward) and "restare" (to remain behind). The original sense was physical: to stop something from moving. Its legal meaning, seizing a person and holding them, developed later, reflecting the idea of bringing a moving person to a standstill.

Synonyms: detainees, prisoners, captives, suspects, apprehended

Antonyms: free persons, releasees, liberated, innocents, freemen