as in imprisoned
taken and held prisoner
the captive soldiers were treated humanely by the guards
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as in prisoner
one that has been taken and held in confinement
the captives in the concentration camp had devised a daring plan of escape
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Examples of captive in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Jishnu Guha-Majumdar, Vox, 8 Aug. 2024
Automakers offered some strong incentives in July to support the deal for a lease, such as through the captive finance company, to those who were willing to lease certain models, according to Mark Schirmer, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 1 Aug. 2024
Corky Siemaszko, NBC News, 2 Aug. 2024
That includes calling upon the services of a Lone Star State enforcer, as well as building solidarity with a much more passive (but conveniently gun-owning) fellow resident/captive played by Roc Lafortune.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 7 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for captive 
Adjective
Tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions, of animals are held captive and experimented on in scientific labs.
—Jishnu Guha-Majumdar, Vox, 8 Aug. 2024
Automakers offered some strong incentives in July to support the deal for a lease, such as through the captive finance company, to those who were willing to lease certain models, according to Mark Schirmer, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive.
—Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 1 Aug. 2024
Noun
The fourth former captive, Vladimir Kara-Murza, elected to go to Germany.
—Corky Siemaszko, NBC News, 2 Aug. 2024
That includes calling upon the services of a Lone Star State enforcer, as well as building solidarity with a much more passive (but conveniently gun-owning) fellow resident/captive played by Roc Lafortune.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 7 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for captive
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'captive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Captive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captive. Accessed 13 Sep. 2024.
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