(captives)
1.
A captive person or animal is being kept imprisoned or enclosed. (LITERARY)
Her heart had begun to pound inside her chest like a captive animal.
ADJ
•
A captive is someone who is captive.
He described the difficulties of surviving for four months as a captive.
= prisoner
N-COUNT
2.
A captive audience is a group of people who are not free to leave a certain place and so have to watch or listen. A captive market is a group of people who cannot choose whether or where to buy things.
We all performed action songs, sketches and dances before a captive audience of parents and patrons...
Airlines consider business travellers a captive market.
ADJ: ADJ n
3.
If you take someone captive or hold someone captive, you take or keep them as a prisoner.
Richard was finally released on February 4, one year and six weeks after he'd been taken captive...
PHRASE: V inflects