pris·on·er /ˈprɪzənə $ -ər/ ●●● S3 W2 noun [countableC] 1 SCJsomeone who is kept in a prison as a legal punishment for a crime or while they are waiting for their trial 犯人,囚犯 → guard, imprison Relationships between the staff and the prisoners are good. 狱警和犯人相处良好。
Prisoners here only serve short sentences. 这里的犯人只是短期服刑。
remand prisoner British EnglishBrE (=someone who is in prison waiting for their trial) 在押候审犯人
The organization is arguing for the release of political prisoners (=people in prison because of their political opinions). 该组织正在争取释放政治犯。
2 SCPMsomeone who is taken by force and kept somewhere 被拘押的人;俘虏;战俘 SYN captivehold/keep somebody prisoner The guerrillas kept her prisoner for three months. 游击队员将她囚禁了三个月。
He was being held prisoner. 他正遭囚禁。
Our pilot was taken prisoner. 我们的飞行员被抓起来了。
The army advanced, taking 200,000 prisoners. 军队向前推进,抓获20万名俘虏。
3 someone who is in a place or situation from which they cannot escape 难以脱离某地的人;无法摆脱某种状况的人 He is a prisoner of his own past. 他无法摆脱自己的过去。
n THESAURUSprisoner someone who is kept in a prison as a punishment for a crime, or while they are waiting for their trialPrisoners may be locked in their cells for twenty-two hours a day.
a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder
convict especially written someone who has been found guilty of a crime and sent to a prison. Convict is used especially about someone who is sent to prison for a long time. It is more commonly used in historical descriptions, or in the phrase an escaped convictThe convicts were sent from England to Australia.
Police were hunting for an escaped convict.
Low-risk convicts help to fight forest fires and clean up public lands.
inmate someone who is kept in a prison or a mental hospitalSome inmates are allowed to have special privileges.
He was described by a fellow inmate as a quiet man.
captive especially literary someone who is kept somewhere and not allowed to go free, especially in a war or fighting. Captive is a rather formal word which is used especially in literatureTheir objective was to disarm the enemy and release the captives.
She was held captive (=kept as a prisoner) in the jungle for over three years.
prisoner of war a soldier, member of the navy etc who is caught by the enemy during a war and kept in the enemy’s countryMy grandad was a prisoner of war in Germany.
They agreed to release two Iranian prisoners of war.
hostage someone who is kept somewhere as a prisoner, in order to force people to agree to do something, for example in order to get money or to achieve a political aimDiplomats are continuing their efforts to secure the release of the hostages.
The US hostages were held in Tehran for over a year.
detainee/internee someone who is kept in a prison, usually because of their political views and often without a trialIn some cases, political detainees have been beaten or mistreated.
23,531 people passed through the camps between 1944 and 1962, including 14,647 political internees.
the detainees at Guantanamo Bay
n COLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + prisonera remand prisoner British EnglishBrE (=one who is waiting for their trial)A prison governor is refusing to accept any more remand prisoners.
a condemned prisoner (=one who is going to be punished by being killed)There is an appeal process for condemned prisoners.
a political prisoner (=one who is in prison because of their political opinions)They demanded that the military government free all political prisoners.
an escaped prisonerSoldiers arrived, looking for escaped prisoners.
verbsrelease/free a prisonerHundreds of prisoners were released.