/ˈhɒstɪdʒ/
#2064 of 5,000 Core 5000
Translation
A person who is kept as a prisoner until other people do what the captors ask.
Word origin
From Old French hostage, a person handed over as a promise that an agreement would be kept.
- Origin
- Old French
- Root
- hostage
Other proposed origins
- Most accounts trace it to Late Latin obsidaticum, the condition of being held as security, from obses, a hostage. (obsidaticum)
- An older folk account links it to hoste, meaning guest or host, from Latin hospes. (hospes)
Examples
robbers .
"To take someone hostage" means to keep them as a prisoner.
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"Released" means they were set free.
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"To hold hostages" means to keep them and not let them go.
Used in
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 42.