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.

---

political prisoner British  

noun

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

---

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

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

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

Now he is vying for votes in a military-managed poll starting on Sunday, coveting the former seat of the country's best known political prisoner -- Aung San Suu Kyi.

From Barron's ● Dec. 23, 2025

It was exceedingly odd that a convicted prisoner like Dinath was permitted to stay together with a political prisoner awaiting trial.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela