captive
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An animal that is confined.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kaptivSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkæptɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An animal that is confined
A person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war
One held prisoner.
One who has been captured or is otherwise confined.
figurative
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.
adjective
Held prisoner; not free; confined.
Of or relating to bondage or confinement; serving to confine.
Subdued by love; charmed; captivated.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An animal that is confined
Used this way, captive is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use captive
- “The zoo ensures the captive animals live in comfortable enclosures.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.