trapped

[trapt]

adjective

1. caught in or as if in a trap or by a ruse, trick, or stratagem.

   Relocate any trapped rabbit at least five miles from the capture site.

   Early in the visit I became the trapped witness to a nasty argument between my host and his wife, which they expected me to arbitrate.

2. (of air, water, etc.) held or contained in an enclosed space or in another substance.

   Make sure the clay is pressed flat, with no trapped air bubbles.

3. accidentally stuck or jammed in a narrow place from which release is difficult.

   This excellent telescopic ladder has finger guards—no more trapped fingers when letting it down!

4. set with traps.

   We followed the track carefully through heavily trapped bush to the meeting place.

5. (of a drain, pipe, or the like) furnished with a device for stopping undesirable substances from flowing through.

   The pipes discharge wastewater into a sewer, usually through a trapped drain.

6. Baseball.,  (of a ball) caught as it hits the ground.

   Challenges to the umpire included a trapped ball in the outfield that nobody else thought was actually caught.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of trap

Word History and Origins

Origin of trapped¹

First recorded in 1425–75; trap ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; trap ¹ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

Will, a tutor, is trapped inside teaching Latin the first time he spots his future bride romping around in the grass with a hawk on her arm.

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The goal isn’t to stop working; it’s to stop being trapped by work.

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“If there had been a fire in one of the buildings or a first responder needed to access the area, they would have been trapped and blocked,” the letter from the city reads.

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Now, the Duffer Brothers are at last showing what happened to Will while he was trapped in the Upside Down, the phantasmic shadow realm ruled by a man-made demon lord.

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But if a house is burning and surrounded by fire in the wildlands, “you’re in a position where you are essentially trapped, and your bathroom’s not going to save you.”

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Related Words

• captured www.thesaurus.com
• cornered