hostage
hostage
Definition
hos·tage (häs′tij)
noun
- a person given as a pledge, or taken prisoner as by an enemy or terrorist, until certain conditions are met
- Obsolete the state of being a hostage
Etymology: ME < OFr < hoste: see host
give hostages to fortune
to get and be responsible for a family; esp., children
hostage
Synonyms
hostage
n.
hostage
Usage Examples
Converse of object
- rescue: Several countries have used military force with varying degrees of success over the last three decades to rescue hostages.
- hold: Runaway claims she was held hostage... hospital for exam.
- kill: Lochiel and his men besieged the castle, whereupon Maclean killed the hostages.
- take: Taking hostages, Caesar returned to Gaul, where there was a grave threat of a Gallic uprising.
- shoot: Perhaps the crucial moment comes when Mickey and Mallory prepare to shoot a hostage after their dramatic prison break.
Preposition: at
- gunpoint: Video clip 1996 - VIOLENT FILM Series 19 opened with pupils watching a horror film showing a school bus taken hostage at gunpoint.
Adjective modifier
- held: They were both held hostage for some years in the Lebanon, in conditions similar to those in the play.
- innocent: Airplanes filled with innocent hostages became guided missiles, aimed straight for our hearts.
- Italian: That is not to dilute the horror of what happened to Ken Bigley or the brave Italian hostage.
- Western: Four days later the last Western hostages were released from Lebanon.
- un: The Serbs released the UN hostages, fearing further NATO attacks.
- American: A fourth American hostage, Tom Fox, was confirmed dead two weeks ago.
Modifies a noun
- taker: One further crew member remains in the hands of the hostage takers.
- negotiator: I've been a trained hostage negotiator for 12 years.
- taking: These cover a range of activities, such as hijacking, hostage taking, bombing, and terrorism financing.
- ordeal: Read More Blackout: the safest way to report a hostage ordeal?
- rescue: It is a hostage rescue map, where the hostages are inside a fort which is covered in snow.
- crisis: The current hostage crisis has also clearly exposed the alleged " training " role of British troops in Sierra Leone.
Noun used with modifier
- rescue: Mission objectives are various: make profit, search and destroy, rescue hostages and rob the banks.
Preposition: by
- terrorist: At the moment the future of the innocent is held hostage by the terrorists.
hostage Quotes
A great nation betrayed the principles which have made it great, and thereby became hostage to hostage-takers.
Browse dictionary entries near hostage
- hosta
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- hospitalize
- hospitalization insurance
- hospitalization
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- hospitality
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- Hospitaler
- hospital corners
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- hostel
- hostel school
- hosteler
- hostelry
- hostess
- hostile
- hostile possession
- hostile takeover
- hostile witness
