Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Physically confined or restrained: Refers to a person, animal, or entity that is held prisoner or is not free to leave.
   • Under the control or influence of something: Describes being dominated by a strong emotion, idea, or situation, such that one's attention or freedom of action is completely absorbed.

2. Noun:

   • A captured person or animal: A person, such as a prisoner of war, or an animal that is held in confinement.
   • A person dominated by an emotion or passion: Someone who is in the grip of a powerful feeling or influence.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The captive soldiers were treated humanely. (The soldiers who were held as prisoners were treated humanely.)
  • She was a captive audience to his fascinating stories. (She was an audience completely absorbed and unable to leave his fascinating stories.)
• Noun:
  • The rebels took several captives during the raid. (The rebels seized several prisoners during the raid.)
  • He was a captive of his own fear, unable to make a decision. (He was dominated by his own fear, unable to make a decision.)

Advanced Usage

• "Hold/keep someone captive": To imprison or confine someone.
  • The kidnappers held their captive in a remote cabin.
• "A captive market/audience": A group of consumers or listeners who have no choice but to buy a product or listen to a message, often due to a lack of alternatives.
  • The airline has a captive market on this remote island route.

Variants and Related Words

• Captivity (n): The state of being imprisoned or confined.
  • The animal spent years in captivity.
• Captor (n): A person who captures someone or something.
  • The captor eventually released the hostage.

Synonyms

• Adjective (confined): Imprisoned, confined, incarcerated, enslaved.
• Noun (prisoner): Prisoner, detainee, hostage, internee.

Related Phrases

• Take someone captive: To capture and imprison someone.
  • The enemy forces took many soldiers captive.

Adjective

1. giving or marked by complete attention to
   • that engrossed look or rapt delight
   • then wrapped in dreams
   • so intent on this fantastic...narrative that she hardly stirred- Walter de la Mare
   • rapt with wonder
   • wrapped in thought
2. being in captivity

Noun

1. a person held in the grip of a strong emotion or passion
2. an animal that is confined
3. a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war