Prisoner

//ˈpɹɪzənə// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial or serving a sentence.

    "Two other prisoners were staying in the same cell as him."

  2. 2
    a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war wordnet
  3. 3
    Any person held against their will.

    "And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords / And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, / Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue / For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home."

  4. 4
    A person who is or feels confined or trapped by a situation or a set of circumstances.

    "I am no longer a prisoner to fear, for I am a child of God."

Synonyms

All synonyms
captiveaccusedcagelingcaptivechain gangcon

Example

More examples

"The king ordered that the prisoner should be set free."

Etymology

From Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier (compare Medieval Latin prisōnārius), equivalent to prison + -er.

Related phrases

Spanish prisonerghost prisonernon-prisonerpolitical prisonerprisoner at largeprisoner exchangeprisoner of conscienceprisoner of hopeprisoner of warprisoner swapprisoner visaprisoner-of-war camp

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.