prisoner
noun
pris·on·er
| \ ˈpriz-nər
, ˈpri-zᵊn-ər\
, ˈpri-zᵊn-ər\
Definition of prisoner
1
: a person deprived of liberty and kept under involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody
especially
: one on trial or in prison
2
: someone restrained as if in prison
a prisoner of her own conscience
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Examples of prisoner in a Sentence
He was captured by rebel forces and kept as their prisoner for several months before they set him free.
The families were held prisoner for four days.
Recent Examples on the Web
The ratio of prisoners to guards at South Mississippi Correctional Institution is 23 to 1, several times higher than Alabama’s, which stands at 9.9 to 1. — Jerry Mitchell, ProPublica, "Some of the Country’s Worst Prisons Have Escaped Justice Department Action," 24 Aug. 2019 Some of the prisoners from the county prison are housed at neighboring prisons because their detention center also remains mangled by the high winds of Hurricane Michael. — NBC News, "Florida firefighters says firehouse destroyed by Hurricane Michael now a life or death issue," 23 Aug. 2019 Even 20 percent of state prisoners in for murder are out within five years. — Rafael A. Mangual, National Review, "Sanders’s Criminal-Justice Plan: Wrong in So Many Ways," 22 Aug. 2019 The protesters seek the resignation of Hong Kong’s chief executive, an inquiry into excessive force on the part of police, and the release of political prisoners. — Casey Newton, The Verge, "China is the latest superpower to get caught waging a disinformation campaign on Twitter," 20 Aug. 2019 As stated by the LA Times, most of those prisoners were working as groundskeepers, janitors and kitchen staff. — Alexis Jones, Marie Claire, "Kamala Harris' Attorney General Record, Explained," 16 Aug. 2019 About one-fifth of French prisoners were convicted for drug offenses, according to the French Ministry of Justice—a rate comparable to that of the United States. — Quartz, "France’s cannabis legalization debate misses one crucial point," 12 Aug. 2019 Authorities said all of the prisoners in the bus had been handcuffed and divided into four cells during the transport. — Maria Ramirez Uribe, CNN, "Four more inmates killed after deadly riot in Brazil," 31 July 2019 Millions of these prisoners would die from illness or starvation. — Daniel Todman, WSJ, "‘1941’ Review: The Year Hitler Lost the War," 12 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'prisoner.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for prisoner
prisoner
noun
English Language Learners Definition of prisoner
: a person who is kept in a prison
: a person who has been captured and is being kept somewhere
See the full definition for prisoner in the English Language Learners Dictionary
prisoner
noun
pris·on·er
| \ ˈpri-zᵊn-ər
, ˈpriz-nər\
, ˈpriz-nər\
Kids Definition of prisoner
: a person who has been captured or locked up
prisoner
noun
pris·on·er
Legal Definition of prisoner
: a person deprived of liberty and kept under involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody
especially
: one under arrest, awaiting trial, on trial, or serving a prison sentence
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