hostage

SEE DEFINITION OF hostage

nounperson held captive until captor's demand is met

Synonyms for hostage

MOST RELEVANT

Antonyms for hostage

captor

prisoner

noun. person jailed for crime; person kept against his or her will

prisoners

noun. person jailed for crime; person kept against his or her will

Word Origin & History

late 13c., from Old French hostage "person given as security or hostage" (12c., Modern French ôtage), either from hoste "guest" (see host (n.1)) via notion of "a lodger held by a landlord as security," or from Late Latin obsidanus "condition of being held as security," from obses "hostage," from ob- "before" + base of sedere "to sit" [OED]. Modern political/terrorism sense is from 1970.

Example Sentences forhostage

He has, for this reason, resolved to detain you in it, as a hostage for them.

And then he had given a hostage to fortune, or his father had for him.

For even if Bishop yielded to their demand, they would retain her as a hostage.

With even that hope to get even with him, I will not kill you, yet I must have that money or a hostage.

If the Prince is a hostage for your safety, then he must be sacrificed.

He was to serve as a hostage for the obedience of the reformed churches.

But she clung to what she had retrieved as if she felt that she held a hostage of fortune.

We have got one of them safe, and hold him as a hostage for our own safety.

This would be better than sitting still to be given as a hostage to the Sioux.

One of his sons must be given up to us, as a hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty.

hostage

prisoner

prisoner of war

prisoners

surety

hostage

More words related to hostage

captive

prisoner

prisoner of war

prisoners

surety