capture

[kap-cher]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capture ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), cap·tured, cap·tur·ing.

to take by force or stratagem; take prisoner; seize: The police captured the burglar.

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.

Computers.

to enter (data) into a computer for processing or storage.
to record (data) in preparation for such entry.

noun

the act of capturing.

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.

Origin of capture

1535–45; < Middle French < Latin captūra, equivalent to capt(us) taken (past participle of capere to take) + -ūra -ure

Related formscap·tur·a·ble, adjectivecap·tur·er, nounpre·cap·ture, adjective, verb (used with object), pre·cap·tured, pre·cap·tur·ing.un·cap·tur·a·ble, adjectiveun·cap·tured, adjective

Synonyms for capture

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR capture ON THESAURUS.COM

1. catch, arrest, snare, apprehend, grab, nab. 6. seizure, arrest, apprehension.

Antonyms for capture

1, 6. release.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for captures

apprehension, taking, imprisonment, confiscation, seizure, arrest, abduction, occupation, secure, occupy, apprehend, trap, seize, snatch, conquer, take, catch, grab, acquirement, sweep

Examples from the Web for captures

Contemporary Examples of captures

He captures all the different issues a president deals with and moves from one to the next.
Thank Congress, Not LBJ for Great Society
Julian Zelizer, Scott Porch
January 4, 2015
Then I read aloud from something that captures the Holiday Spirit.
Congress’ Gift That Keeps on Giving
P. J. O’Rourke
December 20, 2014
He captures Ramone and his second wife, Barbara, together in the studio in one photo, him on bass, her on guitar.
‘All Good Cretins Go to Heaven’: Dee Dee Ramone’s Twisted Punk Paintings
Melissa Leon
December 15, 2014
No one doubts that these comedians will be killed if ISIS captures them.
Middle East Goes Monty Python on ISIS
Dean Obeidallah
October 29, 2014
Amanda Reiman, policy manager for the California branch of the Drug Policy Alliance, captures the complex research problem well.
Another Hazy Week For Weed
Abby Haglage
September 1, 2014

Historical Examples of captures

I remembers when we captures him it's 239 the last spring round-up but one.
Faro Nell and Her Friends
Alfred Henry Lewis
Another animal was soon provided for me from the captures we had made.
Three Years in the Federal Cavalry
Willard Glazier
Any scene that didn't witness a couple of captures and a couple of rescues was no good.
Boy Scouts in the Philippines
G. Harvey Ralphson
We are not short of money, thanks to the captures we have made.
No Surrender!
G. A. Henty
The diagram (Fig. 76) will explain the way in which the earth makes her captures.
The Story of the Heavens
Robert Stawell Ball

British Dictionary definitions for captures

capture

verb (tr)

to take prisoner or gain control overto capture an enemy; to capture a town

(in a game or contest) to win control or possession ofto 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)

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

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

the act or process of inserting or transferring data into a computer

Derived Formscapturer, noun

Word Origin for capture

C16: from Latin captūra a catching, that which is caught, from capere to take

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for captures

capture

1795, from capture (n.); in chess, checkers, etc., 1820. Related: Captured; capturing. Earlier verb in this sense was captive (early 15c.).

capture

1540s, from Middle French capture "a taking," from Latin captura "a taking" (especially of animals), from captus (see captive).

captures in Medicine

capture

[kăp′chər]

n.

The act of catching, taking, or holding a particle or impulse.