Meanings
plural captivities
- countableuncountableThe state of being captive.
held in captivity
3 more examples
escape from captivity
The animals lived in captivity at the zoo.
He wrote a memoir about his years in captivity.
- countableobsoleteuncountableA group of people/beings captive.
- countableuncountableThe state or period of being imprisoned, confined, or enslaved.
long captivity
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latincaptīvitās
- Middle Englishcaptivite
- Englishcaptivity
From Middle English captivite, from Latin captīvitās. By surface analysis, captive + -ity. Entered into the English lexicon around the 14th century.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek αἰχμαλωσία
- αἰχμαλωσία (aikhmalōsía)state of being captive
Arabic أَسْر, سَبْي
- أَسْر (ʔasr)state of being captive
- سَبْي (saby)state of being captive
Bulgarian плен
- плен (plen)state of being captive
Catalan captivitat, captiveri
- captivitatstate of being captive
- captiveristate of being captive
Chinese Mandarin 囚禁, 關押 /关押
- 囚禁 (qiújìn)state of being captive
- 關押 /关押 (guānyā)state of being captive
- 拘禁 (jūjìn)state of being captive
- 拘押 (jūyā)state of being captive
- 監禁 /监禁 (jiānjìn)state of being captive
- 樊籠 /樊笼 (fánlóng)state of being captive
- 桎梏 (zhìgù)state of being captive
- 囹圄 (língyǔ)state of being captive
Czech zajetí, zajetí
- zajetístate of being captive
- zajetíperiod of being captive
Dutch gevangenschap
- gevangenschapstate of being captive
Finnish vankeus, vankeus
- vankeusstate of being captive
- vankeusperiod of being captive
- vankeusaikaperiod of being captive
French captivité
- captivitéstate of being captive
German Gefangenschaft, Gefangenschaft
- Gefangenschaftstate of being captive
- Gefangenschaftperiod of being captive
Greek αιχμαλωσία
- αιχμαλωσία (aichmalosía)state of being captive
Hebrew שֶׁבִי, שִׁבְיָה
- שֶׁבִי (shévi)state of being captive
- שִׁבְיָה (shivyá)state of being captive
Hungarian fogság
- fogságstate of being captive
Irish broid
- broidstate of being captive
Italian cattività
- cattivitàstate of being captive
Japanese 監禁
- 監禁 (kankin)state of being captive
Korean 감금
- 감금 (gamgeum)state of being captive
Latin captīvitās
- captīvitāsstate of being captive
Latvian gūsts
- gūstsstate of being captive
Māori whakarau
- whakaraustate of being captive
Persian اسارت
- اسارت (esârat)state of being captive
Polish niewola
- niewolastate of being captive
Portuguese catividade, cativeiro
- catividadestate of being captive
- cativeiroperiod of being captive
Romanian captivitate
- captivitatestate of being captive
Russian плен, нево́ля
- плен (plen)state of being captive
- нево́ля (nevólja)state of being captive
- поло́н (polón)state of being captive
- нево́ля (nevólja)period of being captive
- плен (plen)period of being captive
Slovak zajatie
- zajatiestate of being captive
Spanish cautividad, cautiverio
- cautividadstate of being captive
- cautiveriostate of being captive
- captiveriostate of being captive
- captividadstate of being captive
Swedish fångenskap, fångenskap
- fångenskapstate of being captive
- fångenskapperiod of being captive
Turkish esaret
- esaretstate of being captive
Ukrainian поло́н, нево́ля
- поло́н (polón)state of being captive
- нево́ля (nevólja)state of being captive
Vietnamese tù binh
- tù binhstate of being captive
Welsh caethiwed
- caethiwedstate of being captive
Cite this entry
captivity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/captivity
“captivity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/captivity. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “captivity,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/captivity.
Source: captivity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.