hostage
Americannoun
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a person given or held as security for the fulfillment of certain conditions or terms, promises, etc., by another.
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Archaic. a security or pledge.
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Obsolete. the condition of a hostage.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a person given to or held by a person, organization, etc, as a security or pledge or for ransom, release, exchange for prisoners, etc
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the state of being held as a hostage
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any security or pledge
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to place oneself in a position in which misfortune may strike through the loss of what one values most
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hostage
1225–75; Middle English < Old French hostage ( h- by association with ( h ) oste host 2 ), ostage ≪ Vulgar Latin *obsidāticum state of being a hostage < Latin obsid- (stem of obses ) hostage (equivalent to ob- ob- + sid- sit 1 ) + -āticum -age
Explanation
A hostage is a prisoner taken by kidnappers and held until the kidnappers get whatever they’re asking for. If you refuse to empty the litter box, your roommate might take your cat as a hostage until you clean it. When hostages are taken, the hostage-takers often ask for ransom, which is money paid for the hostages. The funny thing about the movie Dog Day Afternoon is that when the bank robbers take hostages, the hostages don’t really want to leave because they sympathize with the robbers. People who take hostages might have other demands too. Unfortunately, hostages are not just in the movies, they’re abducted in real life for political and personal reasons.
Vocabulary lists containing hostage
Chapter 21: Age of Exploration and Trade
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for March 18–March 24, 2023
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"I Go Along" and "Theme for English B"
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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:
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the hostage crisis shortly before 11 a.m. and deployed drones to scout the area where the workers were taken, LaRue said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Bradley has just been taking part in an ambush exercise, where he and his team are instructed to rescue a hostage in a forest and usher her to safety while fending off armed enemies.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
You should not be held hostage to other people’s emotional drama or debts.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 27, 2026
"We are seeing certain countries holding the process hostage as vulnerable people suffer heat stress, and king tides and storms, drought and famine," he said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
The Killing House was a fake—a mock-up of an embassy used to train the SAS in the art of hostage release.
From "Stormbreaker" by Anthony Horowitz
Friday, the two hostages were released, and at 2:30 a.m. the Hendricksons exited the trailer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
By early Sunday morning, after additional stops in Newfoundland—where a portion of the hostages were released—and Iceland, the plane landed in Paris.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Such films have been funded in part by Sacramento’s business hostages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
His son was among 110 hostages flown home in January, on a plane organised by the Iraqi government.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026
“Wards, we always called them, when Winterfell demanded boys of us, but they were hostages, and none the worse for it.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
On the other hand, John Donvan conceded that there is a limit to living in the past—to hostaging yourself, for instance, to outdated agreements and other generations’ crimes.
From Slate ● Jan. 11, 2012
In their minds, hostaging means trading -- and trading means talking.
From Time Magazine Archive
Q. Have you expressed that view of hostaging to President Bush?
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
