capture
Americanverb (used with object)
-
captures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
captured,
past participle, past
-
capturing
present participle
-
to take by force or stratagem; take prisoner; seize.
The police captured the burglar.
- Antonyms:
- release
-
to gain control of or exert influence over.
an ad that captured our attention;
a TV show that captured 30% of the prime-time audience.
-
to take possession of, as in a game or contest.
to capture a pawn in chess.
-
to represent or record in lasting form.
The movie succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1930s.
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Computers.
-
to enter (data) into a computer for processing or storage.
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to record (data) in preparation for such entry.
-
noun
-
captures
plural
-
the act of capturing.
- Synonyms:
- apprehension, arrest, seizure
- Antonyms:
- release
-
the thing or person captured.
-
Physics. the process in which an atomic or nuclear system acquires an additional particle.
-
Crystallography. substitution in a crystal lattice of a trace element for an element of lower valence.
verb
-
to take prisoner or gain control over
to capture an enemy
to capture a town
-
(in a game or contest) to win control or possession of
to capture a pawn in chess
-
to succeed in representing or describing (something elusive)
the artist captured her likeness
-
physics (of an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus) to acquire (an additional particle)
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to insert or transfer (data) into a computer
noun
-
the act of taking by force; seizure
-
the person or thing captured; booty
-
physics a process by which an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus acquires an additional particle
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Also called: piracy. geography the process by which the headwaters of one river are diverted into another through erosion caused by the second river's tributaries
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the act or process of inserting or transferring data into a computer
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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capturesimple
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capturessimple
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have capturedperfect
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has capturedperfect
-
am capturingprogressive
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are capturingprogressive
-
is capturingprogressive
-
have been capturingperfect progressive
-
has been capturingperfect progressive
Past
-
capturedsimple
-
had capturedperfect
-
was capturingprogressive
-
were capturingprogressive
-
had been capturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of capture
First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French, from Latin captūra, equivalent to capt(us) “taken” (past participle of capere “to take”) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
The verb to capture means to grab, trap, or take something that doesn't want to be grabbed, trapped, or taken. Hunters, pirates, and kidnappers all capture the things they want. If you want that tiger, you're going to have to capture him, either by setting a trap or shooting him. Either way, his capture won't be easy. You can also capture a photograph of something — which, while it doesn't mean taking it against its will, is still a kind of taking in which the thing itself is not participating. The pirate captured his hostages, while his hostages captured the scene on their cell-phone video cameras.
Vocabulary lists containing capture
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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Words Every Pirate Should Know
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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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:
Less regulated and more widely accessible than the traditional financial services industry, these “finfluencers” use battle-tested growth tactics to capture attention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
These maps capture Galactic HII regions, planetary nebulae, and nearby galaxies at exceptional spatial scales.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026
What these sales fail to capture is what people spend on services such as travel, recreation and entertainment.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Yet for many who venture into the wild elsewhere on the continent, vultures are not the first birds to capture their attention.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
I capture the soft whistle of Mars’s wind.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
Still, the trend captures something larger about the Chinese consumer in 2026.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
A new Amazon Prime documentary series following Guardiola's final two years at the club captures the manager addressing his team just days after the defender's departure.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Jones manages his superb cast with aplomb and cinematographer Wyatt Garfield evocatively captures lower Manhattan’s wintry, burnished glow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
The researchers also point out that a still image captures only a small part of real-world communication.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
“I like it. It captures my unique personality.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
The images they captured from different viewing angles brought out different features, including brighter and darker streaks fanning out around the crater.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
Tooson has claimed a neighbor’s Ring camera captured audio evidence from the shooting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Backed by tech heavyweights like Meituan and venture-capital firm HSG, the startup captured national attention when its humanoid robots performed a folk dance during a Lunar New Year Gala broadcast last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
The moment was captured on video and quickly spread online, drawing thousands of warm reactions.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Two of Princip’s accomplices had also been captured.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
The Pew Research Center released a report in 2024 showing that these so-called opt-in surveys did a particularly bad job of capturing the attitudes of adults under 30 and Latino adults.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Pierre’s Stewart holds the gravitas of that portrayal while also capturing the original intent of his character’s co-creator, Neal Adams, to have him evoke a young Sidney Poitier.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
That’s a high price to pay for the once-in-a-year chance of capturing one of those spectacular one-day wonders.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
But what else are these omnipresent cameras capturing?
From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026
If we had gone back to base to get the rest of the squad, we would have missed capturing their supply of food.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
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.
