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:
By simulating these effects at exceptionally high resolution, the researchers were able to capture structures in the gas that simpler approaches can miss.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
With the key winter months ahead, SSE’s ability to capture the higher and more volatile prices will depend on market conditions and renewables output, they say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
As part of the agreement, Alberta has agreed to develop the world's largest carbon capture programme in a bid to reduce its overall emissions.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
I wasn’t sure of the right noun to use to capture his feelings: Excitement?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
One of them put Madison’s tricorner hat on the point of a bayonet and said if they could not capture “the little president,” they could still parade his hat through London.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Like Jones, Ms. Perry captures the sensory experience of death and the feeling of existing in a strange, panicked void.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Quantum entanglement captures one of the strangest differences between everyday physics and the quantum world.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
In its finest moments, the box set captures the astonishing level of musical development that will energize the remainder of The Beatles’ career, a period of unparalleled pop-cultural ambition and stylistic experimentation.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
He captures their personality through a curiosity lens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
After a page-long digression on pacifism, Christianity, and the Roman Empire, Keegan returns to what is wrong with Clausewitz’s dictum and with the modern understanding of war it captures.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
ANZ captured 15% and regional lenders grew above the majors in business lending, they add.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Crimestoppers are offering a £10,000 reward for information in the attack, which was captured on home security footage and is being investigated by the police.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
When watching the film, the festival sets captured live blend seamlessly with the shots of the crowd, which were captured both live and simulated later in Atlanta.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
NASA's Curiosity rover has captured a striking new view of Mars as it passed a major mission milestone: 5,000 Martian days on the Red Planet.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
Dr. Sussman was also an amateur photographer, and he captured some portraits of Bobby that worked their way into the Fischer oeuvre years later.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
They’ve also been looking into other ways of capturing and storing more water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
They tell clients in a note that Commonwealth Bank and ANZ were the strongest of the majors in business lending, with the former capturing 28% of flow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
His forecast relies on Starlink capturing “essentially 100%” of satellite broadband customers in its chosen markets while taking market share from nonfiber broadband subscribers.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
"She was doing her best by capturing the vibes of a cake, the feelings, what it makes you think of, which was very nicely balanced by Paul being very technical and scrutinising," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Traynor liked Dasch, and he knew Dasch's information was critical to the FBI's success in capturing the saboteurs.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
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.
