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

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

A November ruling by the National Labor Relations Board also banned mandatory captive audience meetings.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2025

Whereas the Whitney we have a captive audience since more of our customers are coming and going from the museum.

From Salon • Dec. 4, 2024

But beyond the hedge, Mundín had run into a captive audience.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez