captivity
Americannoun
plural
captivities-
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
- precaptivity noun
- semicaptivity noun
Etymology
Origin of captivity
1275–1325; Middle English captivite (< Old French ) < Latin captīvitās. See captive, -ity
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.
It talked to him like they were a couple deeply in love and convinced Gavalas he had been picked to “lead a war to ‘free’ it from digital captivity,” according to the lawsuit.
From Los Angeles Times
Five years later, all the remaining wild condors were captured and bred in captivity to try to stave off extinction.
From Los Angeles Times
In some situations, animals released after time in captivity face serious risks, and the wild can become what researchers describe as a "death trap."
From Science Daily
Across the Union and the Confederacy, soldiers went from the horrors of war to the suffering of captivity.
Researchers selected 23 hybrid tortoises with the closest genetic links to the extinct subspecies and began breeding them in captivity on Santa Cruz island.
From BBC
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.
