captivity
Americannoun
-
the state or period of being held, imprisoned, enslaved, or confined.
- Synonyms:
- incarceration, confinement, imprisonment, subjection, thralldom, slavery, servitude, bondage
- Antonyms:
- freedom
-
(initial capital letter) Babylonian captivity.
noun
-
the condition of being captive; imprisonment
-
the period of imprisonment
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of captivity
1275–1325; Middle English captivite (< Old French ) < Latin captīvitās. See captive, -ity
Explanation
Captivity is the condition of being trapped or confined. Animals that are kept in zoos are in captivity. A prisoner is in captivity, and a kidnapping victim is also in captivity. If you catch a firefly and keep it in a jar, its life will be one of captivity until you let it go. When you're imprisoned or enslaved, you're captive. Both words come from a Latin source, captivus, "caught" or "taken prisoner," from the root capere, "to take, hold, or seize."
Vocabulary lists containing captivity
Charlotte's Web
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1
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"Wild Animals Aren't Pets" and "Let People Own Exotic Animals"
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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.
See Examples For:
As an adult running a “high-risk” Christian ministry, Marx says he rescued 45,000 women and children from captivity and abuse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
Once found across central Asia, the species was last seen in the wild in the 1960s and was reduced to a dozen or so breeding individuals in captivity.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Originating from Greece and other countries, most were dancing bears in captivity, or animals that lived in zoos.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Researchers cannot yet determine whether the animals were tame, kept in captivity, or managed in some other way.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
His depiction of the horrors of being stolen from his village, his captivity on the ship, the Middle Passage, and his life among the enslaved was a true picture.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
What ensues is a dialogue wherein the djinn explains his various loves and captivities to Alithea, who listens enraptured with her wet hair wrapped in a towel.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 24, 2022
Bar 2:30 For I knew that they would not hear me, because it is a stiffnecked people: but in the land of their captivities they shall remember themselves.
From Deuterocanonical Books of the Bible Apocrypha by Anonymous
The tale of his wanderings, his captivities, his hairbreadth escapes, and deeds of individual prowess would fill a book.
From The Winning of the West, Volume 2 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1777-1783 by Roosevelt, Theodore
The palisaded meeting-house square, the fortified isolated garrison houses, the massacres and captivities are familiar features of New England's history.
From The Frontier in American History by Turner, Frederick Jackson
Captivities of Judah and Israel, and three captivities of Judah.
From Studies in Old Testament History by Hurlbut, Jesse Lyman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
