| / English Dictionary |
CAPTIVE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An animal that is confined
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("captive" is a kind of...):
animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)
Derivation:
captive (being in captivity)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("captive" is a kind of...):
emotional person (a person subject to strong states of emotion)
Derivation:
captivate (attract; cause to be enamored)
captive (being in captivity)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war
Synonyms:
captive; prisoner
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("captive" is a kind of...):
unfortunate; unfortunate person (a person who suffers misfortune)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "captive"):
con; convict; inmate; yard bird; yardbird (a person serving a sentence in a jail or prison)
detainee; political detainee (some held in custody)
hostage; surety (a prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms)
internee (a person who is interned)
political prisoner (someone who is imprisoned because of their political views)
POW; prisoner of war (a person who surrenders to (or is taken by) the enemy in time of war)
Derivation:
captive (being in captivity)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Giving or marked by complete attention to
Example:
wrapped in thought
Synonyms:
absorbed; captive; engrossed; enwrapped; intent; wrapped
Classified under:
Similar:
attentive ((often followed by 'to') giving care or attention)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Being in captivity
Synonyms:
captive; confined; imprisoned; jailed
Classified under:
Similar:
unfree (hampered and not free; not able to act at will)
Derivation:
captive (an animal that is confined)
captive (a person held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion)
captive (a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war)
captivity (the state of being a slave)
captivity (the state of being imprisoned)
Context examples:
The English archers and men-at-arms had mustered at that end of the lists, but the vast majority of the spectators were in favor of the attacking party, for the English had declined in popularity ever since the bitter dispute as to the disposal of the royal captive after the battle of Poictiers.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The drug had no discriminating action; it was neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors of the prisonhouse of my disposition; and like the captives of Philippi, that which stood within ran forth.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Nor did he like it when the man-animals arose and went on with their march; for a tiny man-animal took the other end of the stick and led Kiche captive behind him, and behind Kiche followed White Fang, greatly perturbed and worried by this new adventure he had entered upon.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Again, the dreaded Sunday comes round, and I file into the old pew first, like a guarded captive brought to a condemned service.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Not a word would our captive say, but he glared at us from the shadow of his matted hair, and once, when my hand seemed within his reach, he snapped at it like a hungry wolf.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was delighted, inquired who lived in this old castle, and was told that several captive princesses were kept there by a spell, and spun all day to lay up money to buy their liberty.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Catherine began to feel something of disappointment—she was tired of being continually pressed against by people, the generality of whose faces possessed nothing to interest, and with all of whom she was so wholly unacquainted that she could not relieve the irksomeness of imprisonment by the exchange of a syllable with any of her fellow captives; and when at last arrived in the tea-room, she felt yet more the awkwardness of having no party to join, no acquaintance to claim, no gentleman to assist them.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
On their journey home through the woods Alleyne learnt their wondrous story: how, when Sir Nigel came to his senses, he with his fellow-captive had been hurried to the coast, and conveyed by sea to their captor's castle; how upon the way they had been taken by a Barbary rover, and how they exchanged their light captivity for a seat on a galley bench and hard labor at the pirate's oars; how, in the port at Barbary, Sir Nigel had slain the Moorish captain, and had swum with Aylward to a small coaster which they had taken, and so made their way to England with a rich cargo to reward them for their toils.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I was a captive and a slave.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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