capture
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to take by force or stratagem; take prisoner; seize.
The police captured the burglar.
- Antonyms:
- release
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to gain control of or exert influence over.
an ad that captured our attention;
a TV show that captured 30% of the prime-time audience.
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to take possession of, as in a game or contest.
to capture a pawn in chess.
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to represent or record in lasting form.
The movie succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1930s.
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Computers.
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to enter (data) into a computer for processing or storage.
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to record (data) in preparation for such entry.
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noun
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the act of capturing.
- Synonyms:
- apprehension, arrest, seizure
- Antonyms:
- release
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the thing or person captured.
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Physics. the process in which an atomic or nuclear system acquires an additional particle.
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Crystallography. substitution in a crystal lattice of a trace element for an element of lower valence.
verb
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to take prisoner or gain control over
to capture an enemy
to capture a town
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(in a game or contest) to win control or possession of
to capture a pawn in chess
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to succeed in representing or describing (something elusive)
the artist captured her likeness
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physics (of an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus) to acquire (an additional particle)
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to insert or transfer (data) into a computer
noun
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the act of taking by force; seizure
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the person or thing captured; booty
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physics a process by which an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus acquires an additional particle
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Also called: piracy. geography the process by which the headwaters of one river are diverted into another through erosion caused by the second river's tributaries
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the act or process of inserting or transferring data into a computer
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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capturesimple
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capturessimple
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have capturedperfect
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has capturedperfect
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am capturingprogressive
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are capturingprogressive
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is capturingprogressive
-
have been capturingperfect progressive
-
has been capturingperfect progressive
Past
-
capturedsimple
-
had capturedperfect
-
was capturingprogressive
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were capturingprogressive
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had been capturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of capture
First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French, from Latin captūra, equivalent to capt(us) “taken” (past participle of capere “to take”) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
The verb to capture means to grab, trap, or take something that doesn't want to be grabbed, trapped, or taken. Hunters, pirates, and kidnappers all capture the things they want. If you want that tiger, you're going to have to capture him, either by setting a trap or shooting him. Either way, his capture won't be easy. You can also capture a photograph of something — which, while it doesn't mean taking it against its will, is still a kind of taking in which the thing itself is not participating. The pirate captured his hostages, while his hostages captured the scene on their cell-phone video cameras.
Vocabulary lists containing capture
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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Words Every Pirate Should Know
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These findings suggest that traditional country-by-country risk assessments fail to capture the full extent of the cobalt supply chain's vulnerability and that coordinated system-wide strategies are needed to strengthen resilience.
From Science Daily • Jun. 20, 2026
This was the lofty idealism of Neoclassicism, that a building should capture the pure expression of one single grand thought.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
Olsen: But do you feel a pressure for the show to feel like some sort of a generational statement, to capture these kind of big-picture things?
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2026
Bycatch – the unintentional capture of non-target species – is causing increasing concern to conservationists.
From BBC • Jun. 18, 2026
Glancing up, I saw frozen images on all three monitors showing the same Butterfly in various degrees of capture.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
