prisoner

American  

[priz-uh-ner, priz-ner] / ˈprɪz ə nər, ˈprɪz nər /

noun

1. a person who is confined in prison or kept in custody, especially as the result of legal process.

2. prisoner of war.

3. a person or thing that is deprived of liberty or kept in restraint.

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prisoner British  

/ ˈprɪzənə /

noun

1. a person deprived of liberty and kept in prison or some other form of custody as a punishment for a crime, while awaiting trial, or for some other reason

2. a person confined by any of various restraints

   we are all prisoners of time

3. informal to be uncompromising and resolute in one's actions

4. to capture and hold someone as a prisoner, esp as a prisoner of war

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Etymology

Origin of prisoner

1300–50; Middle English < Anglo-French. See prison, -er ²

Compare meaning

How does prisoner compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• inmate vs. prisoner

Example Sentences

Hundreds of these prisoners have already escaped as Sharaa’s forces took over territory in northeastern Syria, U.S. and Kurdish officials said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Progress has been slow until January 24, which saw a sudden flurry of 100 prisoners freed.

From Barron's

Soon I find a government website for locating prisoners in California.

From Literature

Sudani has also cooperated with the United States to bring into Iraq a caravan of Islamic State prisoners from Syria, where the army recently moved on Kurdish fighters who had run the detention camps.

From Barron's

Wagner points for example to images of "well-fed prisoners, meant to suggest that conditions in concentration camps weren't really that bad".

From Barron's

Related Words

• captive
• convict
• detainee
• hostage