How to Use captivity in a Sentence

captivity

noun

• The prisoners were released from captivity.
• Barred owls live for around a dozen years in the wild but can live even longer in captivity.
  — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 1 Dec. 2020
• That was my first day of captivity.
  — Elizabeth Tsurkov, The Atlantic, 11 Jan. 2026
• Birds raised in captivity and released to the wild were doomed to fail.
  — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 25 Nov. 2021
• Here are the hostages believed to still be alive after more than two years of captivity.
  — Kathryn Palmer, USA Today, 9 Oct. 2025
• And while the fish are doing well in captivity, the researchers don’t plan to make more.
  — Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 22 July 2020
• Freedom is at the heart of this novel, and with that, captivity.
  — Michele Filgate, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2022
• An adult milky stork stands about 3 feet tall and can live up to 30 years or more in captivity.
  — San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 July 2021
• So much of the first season was about his reaction to his captivity and his rage.
  — Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 3 July 2025
• And no one in the film argues that Native captivity is a fate worse than death.
  — Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2021
• This was no solace for Wado, who lived in a cold tent for part of his captivity.
  — John Tamny, Forbes, 26 Jan. 2023
• Corals from other parts of the world have been raised in captivity for years and are well understood.
  — Kevin Spear, orlandosentinel.com, 2 Sep. 2021
• In captivity, the big cats can live 15 to 20 years.
  — Gloria Casas, Chicago Tribune, 14 May 2026
• Now, the blond timber rattlesnake is safe in captivity, and soon the public will be able to see it.
  — Brian Broom, USA TODAY, 1 Oct. 2021
• In Thailand there are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild.
  — Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 13 Oct. 2021
• Kids — and even adults — plied me with questions about what happened during those three long days of captivity.
  — Midsi Sanchez, PEOPLE, 15 Apr. 2026
• The tête-à-tête between the two men lasted a year—the same length of time as his captivity in Auschwitz.
  — Literary Hub, 13 May 2026
• The women in the bunker have some memory of life before captivity, but the girl does not.
  — Hazlitt, 23 Oct. 2024
• Raccoons in the wild live around two to three years, while raccoons in captivity have lived as long as 20 years.
  — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 25 Aug. 2020
• There are 48 hostages in Hamas captivity.
  — Caitlin McFall , Jennifer Griffin , Efrat Lachter , Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2025
• He was promoted to his current rank while in captivity.
  — CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
• Near the end of their captivity, the kidnappers cut off the ring finger of Juan’s left hand.
  — Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 14 June 2025
• White-tails live an average of 4 ½ years in the wild and 16 years in captivity.
  — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 12 Jan. 2021
• For each, non-childhood is a state not only of exclusion but of captivity.
  — Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
• Those were older men, and, in this case, this week, younger people, but all of them alive for months in Hamas captivity.
  — CBS News, 1 Sep. 2024
• The hostages have been in the captivity of militants in Gaza for more than 18 months.
  — Natan Odenheimer, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
• On the fourth day of her captivity, Kozakiewicz was convinced Tyree would kill her.
  — Diana Pearl, Peoplemag, 5 Sep. 2023
• Coan said the whales, which range in age from 7 to 12, were born in captivity and cannot be released into the ocean.
  — Pat Eaton-Robb, courant.com, 12 May 2021
• On average, milk snakes can live from 12 to 20 years in the wild and even longer in captivity.
  — Cori Brown, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 10 Oct. 2021
• The orca, now believed to be around 57, is the oldest in captivity.
  — Chantal Da Silva, NBC News, 30 Mar. 2023