Other forms: captives
A captive is somebody being held prisoner. Release the captives, held captive, a captive of the regime.
Held captive is the standard phrase. As an adjective it means both imprisoned and unable to leave: a captive audience, which is one that cannot escape and is therefore not a compliment. Captive breeding is the conservation practice of breeding endangered animals in zoos for release. Note captivity, which of an animal is the state of not being wild; and captivate, which is the same word and means to charm.
1nouncaptiveSomebody being held prisoner.
“The pirates released their captive after his family paid the ransom.”
2adjectiveunableHeld and unable to leave.
“A captive audience of four hundred sat through all of it.”
captive is a held prisoner.
Latin captivus comes from capere, to seize — the same verb as capture, captive and, at a distance, catch. Captivate means to take somebody prisoner, and it softened into charming them.
Proto-Indo-European
*kap-
Proto-Indo-European
*kap-<id:seize> — seize, hold
Latin
captīvus
Middle English
captif
English, today
captive
Middle English captif; Latin captīvus, probably through a borrowing from a Middle French - intermediate. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kap- (“seize, hold”). a doublet of caitiff.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA