noun
captive
KAP-tihv
noun
1
A person who has been captured and is being held prisoner.
"The captives were released after months of negotiation."
adj
1
Held prisoner, confined, or unable to leave.
"The captive animals paced restlessly along the fence line."
"A captive audience has nowhere else to go, so the speaker has their full attention."
How to Use Captive
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishSomeone or something held prisoner, or unable to leave or escape a situation.
Common pairings
held captive
captive audience
captive animal
Word Forms
captived past tense, captives plural, captives singular
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The _____ were released after months of negotiation.
Etymology
From Latin captivus, "taken prisoner," from capio, "to seize" — a distant cousin of "capture" and "captor."