Synonyms

political prisoner

British

noun

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

"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

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.

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

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

Rights NGO Foro Penal said it counted 90 political prisoner releases since January 8, while interim president Delcy Rodriguez reported that 406 people have been freed since December.

From Barron's • Jan. 17, 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

We asked her about being arrested and being a political prisoner and a freedom fighter.

From "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023