political prisoner

American  

[puh-lit-i-kuhl priz-uh-ner, priz-ner] / pəˈlɪt ɪ kəl ˈprɪz ə nər, ˈprɪz nər /

noun

• political prisoners
  plural

1. a person who is arrested or imprisoned because their political beliefs or activities are seen as a threat to the government or state.

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political prisoner British  

noun

1. someone imprisoned for holding, expressing, or acting in accord with particular political beliefs

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• political prisoners
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

political prisoner

His father, a restaurateur, spent years as a political prisoner.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

One Tehran-based civil-society activist and former political prisoner said Iranians were truly hopeful two weeks ago as the war began.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026

She herself is the daughter of a former defense minister who died in prison in 2021, and the sister of another political prisoner held for "terrorism."

From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026

The latter of these books was written while Ngũgĩ was being held in a Nairobi jail as a political prisoner.

From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025

This is a journal entry oj what occurred at La 40 on Monday, April 11th, 1960, to me, a female political prisoner.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez