captive

American  

[kap-tiv] / ˈkæp tɪv /

noun

• captives
  plural

1. a prisoner.

2. a person who is enslaved or dominated.

   He is the captive of his own fears.

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adjective

1. made or held prisoner, especially in war.

   captive troops.

2. kept in confinement or restraint.

   captive animals.

3. enslaved by love, beauty, etc.; captivated.

   her captive beau.

4. of or relating to a captive.

5. managed as an affiliate or subsidiary of a corporation and operated almost exclusively for the use or needs of the parent corporation rather than independently for the general public.

   a captive shop;

   a captive mine.

captive British  

/ ˈkæptɪv /

noun

1. a person or animal that is confined or restrained, esp a prisoner of war

2. a person whose behaviour is dominated by some emotion

   a captive of love

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adjective

1. held as prisoner

2. held under restriction or control; confined

   captive water held behind a dam

3. captivated; enraptured

4. unable by circumstances to avoid speeches, advertisements, etc (esp in the phrase captive audience )

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncaptive
  adjective
• pseudocaptive
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• captives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of captive

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English or directly from Middle French, from Latin captīvus, equivalent to capt(us) “taken” (past participle of capere “to take”) + -īvus adjective suffix ( see -ive)

Explanation

A captive is something that has been captured and can’t escape, like a prisoner of war or a panda in a zoo. To be captured on the battlefield, and held captive is not so great, but captive doesn’t always describe things that are completely bad, like its synonym, hostage. If you fall in love you might say your heart is being held captive. Ideas that entrance you could be called captivating. Sometimes endangered animals are brought into captivity in order to breed larger populations, and then released into the wild.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

captive captives

I got bangs once before, months into leaving home for college, and rather than feel captive behind my hair, I felt most myself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

As for the passengers, it’s hard to turn down fine wine when you’re captive, bored and often in vacation mode.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

The second note was apologetic, saying that she had died while captive and was "buried in nature now."

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

A captive population to breed from could be the "last lifeline" for them, he says, with Kynren connecting with other programmes to increase diversity and "help birds in the wild".

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

Before they went back through, Will looked all around, sniffing the air, taking the measure of the world where Lyra was captive.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

Investigators showed former captives Naumenko’s photo, which they recognized.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 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

Twenty living hostages and the remains of 24 deceased captives have been released, with four bodies remaining in Gaza.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025

Each night he walked atop the Wall with Lady Melisandre, and during the days he visited the stockades, picking captives out for the red woman to question.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Related Words

• detainee
• hostage
• prisoner
• prisoner of war
• slave