detachment

Etymology

It is borrowed from French détachement,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} recorded in French from 1642,^[2] formed from détacher (“to detach, untie”) with -ment.^[2][5][4] The French verb, earlier Old French destachier,^[2][3][8] is formed from des- (“apart”), from Latin dis-, and attachier (“to attach”) according to Etymonline and Barnhart,^[3][4] or tache (“nail, hook”) according to Klein and the OED.^[8][2] Because the English verb detach is recorded only from 1684, first in its military use, Barnhart thinks it may be a back-formation from detachment.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of detaching; separation: 1671, in A. Woodhead's preface to a translation of the life of St Teresa, according to the OED;^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1669, and Etymonline to the 1660s.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The military uses came soon after: the sending of part of a force on a separate service is recorded from 1678, in Phillips's dictionary, and the body of troops so sent from the same year, in Butler's Hudibras.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) gave only this sense, a body of troops sent out from the main army.^[9] The sense "spiritual separation from the world" is recorded from 1798, in Charles Lamb,^[2][3] and widened to freedom from ordinary concerns or emotional ties;^[2] the OED compares the 1671 record, from a religious work.^[2] The more general sense of standing aloof from one's surroundings is recorded from 1862.^[2] In Canada a detachment is also a branch office of a police force.^[10]

Timeline

• 1669 – the action of detaching; separation.^[4][5]
• 1678 – the sending of part of a military force on special service; the force so sent.^[2][3]
• 1798 – spiritual separation from the world; aloofness.^[2][3]
• 1862 – a standing apart from surrounding things.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of emotional involvement; indifference or aloofness: She listened to the quarrel with detachment.^[10][5][2]
2. Freedom from bias or self-interest; impartiality.^[10][5][7]
3. The act of detaching something, or the state of being detached; separation.^[10][5][2]
4. (military) The sending of a body of troops or ships away from the main force on a special mission.^[10][5][2]
5. (military) A body of troops or ships so sent; also a small permanent unit organized separately.^[10][5][2]
6. (Canada) A branch office of a police force.^[10]

Related words

• detach
• attach

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins