What does "hostage" mean?
A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal.
Hostage
/ˈhɒs.tɪd͡ʒ/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal.
- Grammar: hostage is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: abductee, bail, bond, captive.
- Useful contrasts: free person, released detainee.
- Usage evidence: He tried to brave it out while held as a hostage.
How to use "hostage"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hostage" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hostage" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hostage" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hostage" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hostage" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abductee" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hostage", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal.
"And there with alle was made hostage on bothe partyes and made hit as sure as hit myghte be that whether party had the vyctory soo to ende. "And therewithal was made hostage on both parties, and made it as sure as it might be, that whether party had the victory, so to end.""
- 2 a prisoner who is held by one party to insure that another party will meet specified terms wordnet
- 3 A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a certain way, because of the threat of harm to the hostage.
"For example, a subject surprised in the act of robbery may take a hostage to use as a shield."
- 4 Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk.
"“Oh, well,” I consented sadly, “the garden will lose half of its charm, but such, I suppose, is my hostage to prosperity.”"
- 5 One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action.
"You have a choice in every moment, so you can decide to be a host to God and carry around with you the calmness that is the Tao, or you can be a hostage to your ego, which insists that you can't really help feeling disorderly when you're in circumstances that resemble pandemonium."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way.
"[…] which number, in Januarye last, the better halfe were already sett free, and departed, and the rest attend the oportunitye of good passadge, except only some few ordayned to bee kept in hostage, for the redemption of Turkes, pretended from us; […]"
Verb
- 1 To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else). nonstandard, possibly
"[…] in voting the prolongation of the military budget on a war estimate for a span of three years, contemplates, it is said, a speedy reoccupation of the six departments of France which were hostaged to the Germans at the termination of the war."
- 2 To hold (someone or something) hostage, especially in a way that constrains or controls the person or thing held, or in order to exchange for something else. nonstandard, possibly
"Flexibility of hours is now hostaged to availability of work. Yet, despite these obvious drawbacks the appeal to nurses of freelancing seems to live on. The chief advantage of agency work is the lack of commitment or not being bound by contract ..."
Antonyms
free personreleased detainee
Example
"He tried to brave it out while held as a hostage."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hostage"?
Common synonyms include: abductee, bail, bond, captive, captive, captives.
How do you use "hostage" in a sentence?
He tried to brave it out while held as a hostage.
How do you pronounce "hostage"?
Pronounced /ˈhɒs.tɪd͡ʒ/.
Etymology
From Middle English hostage, ostage, from Old French hostage, ostage. This, in turn, is either from Old French hoste (“host”) + -age (in which case the sense development is from taking someone into "lodging" to taking them into "captivity", to applying the term to a captive), or is from Vulgar Latin obsidāticum (“condition of being held captive”), from Latin obses (“hostage, captive”), with the initial h- added under the influence of hoste or another word. Displaced native Old English ġīsl.