capture

American  

[kap-cher] / ˈkæp tʃər /

verb (used with object)

• captures,
  present (3rd person singular)
• captured,
  past participle,  past
• capturing
  present participle

1. to take by force or stratagem; take prisoner; seize.

   The police captured the burglar.

   Synonyms:

   nab, grab, apprehend, snare, arrest, catch

   Antonyms:

   release

2. 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.

3. to take possession of, as in a game or contest.

   to capture a pawn in chess.

4. to represent or record in lasting form.

   The movie succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1930s.

5. Computers.

   1. to enter (data) into a computer for processing or storage.

   2. to record (data) in preparation for such entry.

---

noun

• captures
  plural

1. the act of capturing.

   Synonyms:

   apprehension, arrest, seizure

   Antonyms:

   release

2. the thing or person captured.

3. Physics. the process in which an atomic or nuclear system acquires an additional particle.

4. Crystallography. substitution in a crystal lattice of a trace element for an element of lower valence.

capture British  

/ ˈkæptʃə /

verb

1. to take prisoner or gain control over

   to capture an enemy

   to capture a town

2. (in a game or contest) to win control or possession of

   to capture a pawn in chess

3. to succeed in representing or describing (something elusive)

   the artist captured her likeness

4. physics (of an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus) to acquire (an additional particle)

5. to insert or transfer (data) into a computer

---

noun

1. the act of taking by force; seizure

2. the person or thing captured; booty

3. physics a process by which an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus acquires an additional particle

4. 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

5. the act or process of inserting or transferring data into a computer

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• capturer
  noun
• capturable
  adjective
• precapture
  adjective
• uncapturable
  adjective
• uncaptured
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• captures
  plural

Participles

• capturing
  present
• captured
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• capture
  simple
• captures
  simple
• have captured
  perfect
• has captured
  perfect
• am capturing
  progressive
• are capturing
  progressive
• is capturing
  progressive
• have been capturing
  perfect progressive
• has been capturing
  perfect progressive

Past

• captured
  simple
• had captured
  perfect
• was capturing
  progressive
• were capturing
  progressive
• had been capturing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will capture
  simple
• will have captured
  perfect
• will be capturing
  progressive
• will have been capturing
  perfect progressive

---

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

capture captures captured capturing

Chapman points out that only the most careful of surveys will capture a home's heat loss well.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026

A successful capture of the Starship upper stage would mark a significant milestone in the space industry's decades-long pursuit of fully reusable spacecraft that can drastically reduce mission costs and make frequent travel possible.

From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2026

A new look, featuring a redesigned head, seems to much better capture the three-time champion’s likeness.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 12, 2026

Yinson’s preferred shareholders and holders of perpetual securities capture most of its equity profits, limiting potential returns to ordinary shareholders like MISC, it says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026

But the only significant gain of ground had been the capture by the Canadians of the dominating Vimy Ridge near Arras.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

True or apocryphal, that scenario captures Musk’s penchant for pursuing self-evidently dumb ideas, which he somehow thinks he can translate into world-changing demands.

From Slate ● Nov. 9, 2026

But it also captures how the largest sporting event in history came to L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

Most interesting to me was the second category—group dynamics—which captures factors that are tricky to measure, such as, is a given board likely to be overly deferential to its CEO, management or each other?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

As Perseverance moves, it continuously captures images of its surroundings, constructs a three-dimensional map of potential obstacles, and selects a safe route between destinations chosen by mission controllers.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 21, 2026

He captures it from different perspectives, from many points of view: up close, far away, in the center, just part of the scene.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman

Physicists have captured an extraordinary quantum phenomenon in which electrons appear to leap across energy gaps that would normally be off limits.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 14, 2026

One neighbor’s garage-mounted floodlight camera had captured two boys walking by and crossing the street in front of our house.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2026

Bromwich said he had captured his neighbour walking past on his video doorbell at about 11:15, and shared his footage with the police.

From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026

“Something is happening, alive in a moment, being captured by a camera and 200 crew members witnessing it and participating in it and making it possible,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

She feared being seen and captured and destroyed.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

His daughter, Adriana Esparza, told Telemundo 52 that her father had called her from the jail saying ICE was outside and hung up just after telling her they were capturing him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026

To carry out this enormous survey, Rubin uses the 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope and the largest digital camera ever constructed, capable of capturing images with 3.2 gigapixels of resolution.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 7, 2026

One Instagram Reel shows a film crew capturing a giant wave flattening a model city with the caption, “No CGI. No compositing. Just a hand-built miniature Miami and a 40-foot wave tank.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

Dutch prosecutors said capturing Leijdekkers was their "highest priority" and any information shared would be kept secret.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

Soon he was lost in capturing images of carefree children playing on the jungle gym or pumping their legs on the swings.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• apprehend
• arrest
• catch
• conquer
• grab
• occupy
• pick up
• round up
• secure
• seize
• snatch
• take
• trap

---