captor

American  

[kap-ter] / ˈkæp tər /

noun

1. a person who has captured a person or thing.

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captor British  

/ ˈkæptə /

noun

1. a person or animal that holds another captive

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Etymology

Origin of captor

1640–50; < Late Latin, equivalent to cap ( ere ) to take + -tor -tor

Explanation

Someone who catches a person or animal and keeps them confined or imprisoned is a captor. Visiting the zoo, you might find yourself wondering if the lions see the zookeepers as friends or as captors. The word captor sounds a little bit like capture, and it's no coincidence — they're both rooted in the Latin capere, "to take, hold, or seize." So if you capture a cricket and keep it in a little cage, you are its captor. And, when a police force captures a criminal and puts them in prison, the police become captors too. The original meaning of captor was actually "a censor."

Example Sentences

Since their mother's disappearance, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings have posted multiple videos on social media, including making direct appeals to their mother's captor.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026

Under the fugitive slave laws, the burden of proof belonged not to the captor but to the captured.

From Slate • Jul. 28, 2025

While the BBC cannot independently verify their stories, almost all say they are petrified that one day, they might bump into a captor on the street or on a bus.

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2025

Authorities have so far released few additional details about the deadly encounter, including whether they detained Becerra Moran’s alleged captor when they arrived.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2025

My captor, whose name, I gathered, was Thomas Pope, looked hurt.

From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood

Related Words

• holder
• jailer