prisoner

noun

ˈpriz-nər How to pronounce prisoner (audio)
Definition of prisonernext
as in captive
one that has been taken and held in confinement the prisoners were fed only bread and water twice a day

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of prisoner At 80 years old, Occhicone became the second-oldest inmate ever executed in the United States and the oldest inmate ever executed in Florida, which is putting more elderly prisoners to death than any other state in the nation. — Amanda Lee Myers, USA Today, 29 July 2026 More than 1,000 death-row inmates held in a unit of Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison have entered a third week of a mass hunger strike to protest regime executions, with some prisoners sewing their lips shut in protest, according to reports. — Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 29 July 2026 The case begins when skeletal remains surface during ceremonies marking the launch of a highway project, a discovery that puts Moosa Raza on the trail of an elusive prisoner named Mani. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 27 July 2026 While dealing with an impending counterattack from Oda, Murashige finds that trouble stirs in his own courts as mysterious deaths, from a child prisoner to other officials, end up mysteriously murdered. — Zachary Lee, IndieWire, 27 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for prisoner
Recent Examples of Synonyms for prisoner
  1. captive
  2. capture
Noun
  • Alice notes that the women were not allowed to bathe or even eat every day; the women were captives, treated like animals, and the men who abused them never faced any consequences.
    — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 27 July 2026
  • The captives led the horses out to graze and began to gather water and collect brush for the fires.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 July 2026
Definition of captive
Noun
  • The individuals sampled for the study had been actively swimming, hunting and taking bait before capture!
    — Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
  • According to Entropy, the total system is designed to capture up to 192,000 tonnes annually, including the earlier Glacier capture installations.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of capture

Browse Nearby Words

prison camps
prisoner
prisoners
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Cite this Entry

“Prisoner.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prisoner. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on prisoner

Nglish: Translation of prisoner for Spanish Speakers

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