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captive audience

Idioms

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.”

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.

Perhaps the only thing that can be said with certainty about Kevin Warsh’s press conference following his first meeting as Federal Reserve chair this week is that he will have a captive audience.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 14, 2026

The streaming wars peaked during the pandemic, with Americans a captive audience for two years.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

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

From BBC • Aug. 21, 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

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

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023