A person or animal that is kept as a prisoner or is not free to leave.
From Latin 'captivus', meaning 'taken prisoner', from 'capere', 'to take or seize'. It entered English through French and kept its sense of being held against one’s will.
The same root that gives us 'capture' and 'captivate' sits inside 'captive'. Even when we say 'a captive audience', we’re jokingly admitting those people are stuck there, whether by tickets, social rules, or actual walls.
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