captive

B2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈkæptɪv/ See IPA manual

Freq #10608

Meanings

1

adj
Kept as a prisoner or not allowed to be free.

The captive soldiers were finally released after the war.
2

noun
A person or animal that has been captured and is held prisoner.

The captives were kept in a small room for several days.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · kept as a prisoner or not... confined imprisoned jailed

Opposites

non-captivenoncaptive

Word family

Forms captives

Derived forms captivancecaptivelyencaptiverecaptivesemicaptive

Simplified etymology

Captive dates from late Middle English and ultimately derives from Latin capere ‘take or hold’.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English captif; derived from Latin captīvus, probably through a borrowing from a Middle French intermediate. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“seize, hold”). Doublet of caitiff.

*kap- Proto-Indo-European captif Middle English captīvus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# captive

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkæptɪv/
**Frequency rank:** 10608

## Meanings
1. Kept as a prisoner or not allowed to be free.
2. A person or animal that has been captured and is held prisoner.

## Examples
- The captive soldiers were finally released after the war.
- The captives were kept in a small room for several days.

## Antonyms
- non-captive
- noncaptive

## Derived Forms
- captivance
- captively
- encaptive
- recaptive
- semicaptive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *kap-
- Root: captif
- Root: captīvus

## Etymology
Inherited from Middle English captif; derived from Latin captīvus, probably through a borrowing from a Middle French intermediate. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“seize, hold”). Doublet of caitiff.

## AI Etymology
Captive is inherited from Middle English captif; derived from Latin captīvus, probably through a borrowing from a Middle French intermediate. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“seize, hold”). Doublet of caitiff.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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