capture
Americanverb (used with object)
-
captures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
captured,
past participle, past
-
capturing
present participle
-
to take by force or stratagem; take prisoner; seize.
The police captured the burglar.
- Antonyms:
- release
-
to gain control of or exert influence over.
an ad that captured our attention;
a TV show that captured 30% of the prime-time audience.
-
to take possession of, as in a game or contest.
to capture a pawn in chess.
-
to represent or record in lasting form.
The movie succeeded in capturing the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1930s.
-
Computers.
-
to enter (data) into a computer for processing or storage.
-
to record (data) in preparation for such entry.
-
noun
-
captures
plural
-
the act of capturing.
- Synonyms:
- apprehension, arrest, seizure
- Antonyms:
- release
-
the thing or person captured.
-
Physics. the process in which an atomic or nuclear system acquires an additional particle.
-
Crystallography. substitution in a crystal lattice of a trace element for an element of lower valence.
verb
-
to take prisoner or gain control over
to capture an enemy
to capture a town
-
(in a game or contest) to win control or possession of
to capture a pawn in chess
-
to succeed in representing or describing (something elusive)
the artist captured her likeness
-
physics (of an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus) to acquire (an additional particle)
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to insert or transfer (data) into a computer
noun
-
the act of taking by force; seizure
-
the person or thing captured; booty
-
physics a process by which an atom, molecule, ion, or nucleus acquires an additional particle
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Also called: piracy. geography the process by which the headwaters of one river are diverted into another through erosion caused by the second river's tributaries
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the act or process of inserting or transferring data into a computer
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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capturesimple
-
capturessimple
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have capturedperfect
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has capturedperfect
-
am capturingprogressive
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are capturingprogressive
-
is capturingprogressive
-
have been capturingperfect progressive
-
has been capturingperfect progressive
Past
-
capturedsimple
-
had capturedperfect
-
was capturingprogressive
-
were capturingprogressive
-
had been capturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of capture
First recorded in 1535–45; from Middle French, from Latin captūra, equivalent to capt(us) “taken” (past participle of capere “to take”) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
The verb to capture means to grab, trap, or take something that doesn't want to be grabbed, trapped, or taken. Hunters, pirates, and kidnappers all capture the things they want. If you want that tiger, you're going to have to capture him, either by setting a trap or shooting him. Either way, his capture won't be easy. You can also capture a photograph of something — which, while it doesn't mean taking it against its will, is still a kind of taking in which the thing itself is not participating. The pirate captured his hostages, while his hostages captured the scene on their cell-phone video cameras.
Vocabulary lists containing capture
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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Words Every Pirate Should Know
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The New SAT: The Language of the Test
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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.
See Examples For:
Yet the mountain states capture only about 5% of that value, it says.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
There are catchy songs, and then there are melodic arrangements that capture a feeling.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
Researchers at TU Wien, working with teams from the University of Vienna, JKU Linz and the University of Innsbruck, have developed a new approach designed to capture and process some of that extra information.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
The school also has a new lawn for recreation and instruction, along with stormwater capture features and solar-reflective basketball and handball courts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
“If you capture the iceberg on the square,” he began, “then it will stay the same forever and ever?”
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
The specimen therefore captures more than just feather evolution.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
Saramago captures the rambling reversals of Senhor José’s thoughts with an unconventional prose style.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Her story captures exactly why a typical physician’s answer based on population-level evidence and statistics can feel so unsatisfying to an individual patient or worried family member.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
The documentary powerfully captures the apocalyptic landscape of Gaza City, its streets reduced to rubble and mangled rebar, and the weighty sense of responsibility shouldered by the few remaining journalists on the ground.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
“I am not strong enough to fight Fedu if he captures me, do you understand?”
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
And it isn’t a slight on Zverev’s campaign to note he feasted on thinner brackets: In an oft-repeated stat, he captured two majors despite a 2-7 record this year against Top 10 players.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
The team captured bats, collected small biopsy samples and released the animals.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 12, 2026
Pozar also pointed to his concerns about data extraction after reports about Kenya-based workers who reviewed graphic content captured by Meta's AI glasses.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
Now that the euphoria of that moment has passed, the CJP is confronting more difficult questions - not least how to hold on to the attention it captured.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Then they were captured by two more shadows and held captive beside Glory.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
"These things can change rapidly, so capturing that baseline data now means we'll have something accurate to compare against in future sampling dates."
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Renoir is celebrated for his light-dappled canvases capturing 19th-century European leisure, high society and timeless figurative studies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
But the Colorado ranchers insist that with their land-management practices, they are benefiting the ecosystem, nourishing the soil and capturing carbon in their grazing lands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
“Valuation is now capturing formerly high-multiple growth stocks at more attractive multiples by design, not just ‘old economy’ companies,” Subramanian said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
On the Distracter test, it scores higher than its rival in capturing children’s attention.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
