captive audience

Idioms  

1. Listeners or onlookers who have no choice but to attend. For example, It's a required course and, knowing he has a captive audience, the professor rambles on endlessly. This expression, first recorded in 1902, uses captive in the sense of “unable to escape.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

captive audience

In contrast to Cricket, who skates along with no end plan, Olympia is a committed careerist, an artist who insists on a captive audience to justify her work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

It wasn’t long before Hill realized she had a captive audience.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 1, 2026

“If we go for a walk, he’s a captive audience, but it’s been below zero here. So sometimes, I’ll interrupt ‘Jeopardy,’” she said.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 10, 2026

Mr Coatsworth said these shops "benefit from a captive audience allowing the company to generate strong margins".

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025

It’s as easy as taking bets from the numbers, but with a captive audience.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz