as in prisoners
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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Recent Examples of captives
Mohamed Soliman admitted to the attack on the Pearl Street Mall in June 2025 during a demonstration in support of Israeli captives held by Hamas, throwing two Molotov cocktails at the group, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others.
—
Sarah Horbacewicz, CBS News, 8 May 2026
The story revolves around nine warriors who travel to Tsushima Island to rescue Korean captives kidnapped by Japanese pirates.
—Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 6 May 2026
One of the captives, Amanda Berry, escaped with her daughter and contacted police, who came to free Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus.
—USA Today, 6 May 2026
The captives come to believe there has been a coup, which is confirmed by the executions.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026
Sports franchises everywhere can be tacky, rapacious, incompetent, extortionate, and otherwise exploitative, but only because their customers, the fans, are essentially captives.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2026
The ministry identified the freed captives as Russian citizen Oleg Gret and Ukrainian citizen Yuri Yurov.
—ABC News, 22 Apr. 2026
As for the three other captives, Caldwell says at least two remain deeply scarred to this day.
—Namir Khaliq, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Alejandra, a Spanish-language radio DJ who had for years posted community events, news, and real-time weather alerts on her Facebook page, Explosion Latina NOLA, was now helping relatives of ICE’s captives navigate its detainee database.
—Daniel Brook, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
Sarah Horbacewicz, CBS News, 8 May 2026
The story revolves around nine warriors who travel to Tsushima Island to rescue Korean captives kidnapped by Japanese pirates.
—Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 6 May 2026
One of the captives, Amanda Berry, escaped with her daughter and contacted police, who came to free Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus.
—USA Today, 6 May 2026
The captives come to believe there has been a coup, which is confirmed by the executions.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Apr. 2026
Sports franchises everywhere can be tacky, rapacious, incompetent, extortionate, and otherwise exploitative, but only because their customers, the fans, are essentially captives.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2026
The ministry identified the freed captives as Russian citizen Oleg Gret and Ukrainian citizen Yuri Yurov.
—ABC News, 22 Apr. 2026
As for the three other captives, Caldwell says at least two remain deeply scarred to this day.
—Namir Khaliq, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Alejandra, a Spanish-language radio DJ who had for years posted community events, news, and real-time weather alerts on her Facebook page, Explosion Latina NOLA, was now helping relatives of ICE’s captives navigate its detainee database.
—Daniel Brook, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for captives
prisoners
Noun
-
The prisoners quickly became a bargaining chip for Hanoi during the Paris peace talks, which had begun in April 1968.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 May 2026
-
Cuba then made an offer to two of their higher profile prisoners, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.—
Dana Taylor,
USA Today,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Captives.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captives. Accessed 16 May. 2026.
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