captive
noun
a prisoner.
captives
-
pluralof captive.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
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.
Though the first African slaves in Virginia arrived in 1619, comparatively few black captives came to the English colonies of the North American mainland during the period covered in “Contested Continent.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The captives are from around Ngoshe, a mainly Muslim community near the border with Cameroon.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
One sculpture transforms the European hero Robin Hood into an African bandit queen who raided slave traders and freed their captives.
From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026
But somewhere along the line, economics was all but consumed by math, and things everybody had always known—that humans are fickle, emotional, bad at reasoning, captives of their prior mistakes, etc.—were forgotten or cast aside.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
A thousand captives watched through the wooden bars of their stockade as the horn was lifted high.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
