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

Washington, once an adversary, now describes a "wonderful" relationship, citing some political prisoner releases and new oil and mining deals.

From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026

Playing a hard-line political prisoner in 1983 Argentina, his Valentin starts the film rejecting everything it stands for: romance, fantasy, overwhelming emotions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

We know of this lullaby because Liebeskind, who was later killed at Sachsenhausen, transmitted the song there to Alexander Kulisiewicz, a Polish musician and political prisoner who had an eidetic memory.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

Maybe Dad thought of himself as a political prisoner, but Mom thought he was being a selfish jerk.

From "Flush" by Carl Hiaasen