as in internment
the act of confining or the state of being confined
the wildlife refuge raises endangered species in captivity and then releases them into the wild
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Recent Examples of captivity
The arbitrary nature of torture places the text in the long genealogy of the captivity narrative; if there is a degree of the adventure yarn in the tale, than there is also something of an Arthur Koestler or an Alexander Solzhenitsyn as well.
—
Ed Simon
september 22, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2025
United Nations health experts had also warned that the couple’s captivity could harm or even kill them.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2025
Rescuers are waiting to hear back from wildlife officials on the next steps for the newborns, who may not be able to go into the wild after living in captivity.
—Simone Jasper, Charlotte Observer, 15 Sep. 2025
At his request, his appearance was not announced in advance so the focus could remain on Omer Shem Tov’s spiritual journey during captivity.
—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for captivity
Ed Simon
september 22, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2025
United Nations health experts had also warned that the couple’s captivity could harm or even kill them.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2025
Rescuers are waiting to hear back from wildlife officials on the next steps for the newborns, who may not be able to go into the wild after living in captivity.
—Simone Jasper, Charlotte Observer, 15 Sep. 2025
At his request, his appearance was not announced in advance so the focus could remain on Omer Shem Tov’s spiritual journey during captivity.
—Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for captivity
Recent Examples of Synonyms for captivity
Noun
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Beginning with the Haitian internment in 1991, Washington seized on Guantánamo’s ambiguous sovereignty to illegally and indefinitely detain asylum-seekers.—
Miriam Pensack,
The Dial,
30 Sep. 2025
-
In recent weeks, the National Park Service has removed signs referencing climate change, slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the massacre of Native Americans from multiple parks and historic sites around the country.—
Outside,
Outside,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Zuazo and Hernandez each were charged with one count of first-degree felony murder and two counts of unlawful imprisonment.—
Christina Hall,
Freep.com,
3 Oct. 2025
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His aggressive defense tactics—including refusing to reveal sources and challenging judicial conduct—led to his brief imprisonment and ultimately the removal of the presiding Judge, Ural Glanville.—
Hannah Parry,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Although this situation has been the hardest and darkest time in my life, good things have come out of my incarceration.—
Lauren del Valle,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
-
Over the 1990s, Washington seized on that opacity to transform the base into a theater of extraterritorial mass incarceration to hold tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban asylum-seekers fleeing political violence and economic collapse in their home countries.—
Miriam Pensack,
The Dial,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
After the rapper was found not guilty of three of the counts in the federal indictment, his attorney argued that he should be sent to home confinement.—
Kevin Dolak,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Sep. 2025
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The two Tucson residents pleaded guilty in federal court in 2009, where one was sentenced to eight months in federal prison and the other to six months of home confinement and 100 hours of community service.—
John Leos,
AZCentral.com,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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In April 2022 the artist, real name Lontrell Williams, was sentenced to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to a gun conspiracy charge stemming from an October 2020 confrontation that left a man shot in the buttocks.—
Andre Gee,
Rolling Stone,
7 Oct. 2025
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He was found not guilty in one case and pleaded guilty in another; this past December, he was sentenced to twenty-three months in prison and five years of probation, although he was released from federal prison earlier this year.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Captivity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captivity. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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