1
: a person deprived of liberty and kept under involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody
especially
: one on trial or in prison
2
: someone restrained as if in prison
a prisoner of her own conscience
see also:
Examples of prisoner in a Sentence
He was captured by rebel forces and kept as their prisoner for several months before they set him free.
The families were held prisoner for four days.
Recent Examples on the Web
There were over 660 Americans held prisoner in North Vietnam.
—
Literary Hub, 14 May 2026
Cuba then made an offer to two of their higher profile prisoners, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 14 May 2026
Tim Nicholls allegedly confessed the murder plot to another prisoner while awaiting trial, and that man then became an informant and a key witness for the prosecution.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 13 May 2026
And then there was this bizarre claim about dogs being trained to rape prisoners, which is medically and scientifically not possible.
—Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for prisoner
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Literary Hub, 14 May 2026
Cuba then made an offer to two of their higher profile prisoners, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 14 May 2026
Tim Nicholls allegedly confessed the murder plot to another prisoner while awaiting trial, and that man then became an informant and a key witness for the prosecution.
—Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 13 May 2026
And then there was this bizarre claim about dogs being trained to rape prisoners, which is medically and scientifically not possible.
—Seth Abramovitch, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for prisoner
Cite this Entry
“Prisoner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prisoner. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
prisoner
noun
pris·on·er
ˈpriz-nər 
-ᵊn-ər
: a person who has been captured or locked up
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