captive.
One who has been captured or is otherwise confined.
Meaning & usage
One who has been captured or is otherwise confined.
One held prisoner.
One charmed or subdued by beauty, excellence, or affection; one who is captivated.
A captive insurance company, a subsidiary of a company used as its internal insurer.
Where this word comes from
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.
Held prisoner; not free; confined.
Subdued by love; charmed; captivated.
Of or relating to bondage or confinement; serving to confine.
Where this word comes from
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.
To capture; to take captive.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.