Hostage

/ˈhɒs.tɪd͡ʒ/ · noun

Meaning

A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal..

Definitions by Sense

1. A person given as a pledge or security for the performance of the conditions of a treaty or similar agreement, such as to ensure the status of a vassal.
2. A person seized in order to compel another party to act (or refrain from acting) in a certain way, because of the threat of harm to the hostage.
3. Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk.
4. One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action.
5. The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way.
6. (possibly nonstandard) To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else).
7. (possibly nonstandard) To hold (someone or something) hostage, especially in a way that constrains or controls the person or thing held, or in order to exchange for something else.

Example Sentences

And there with alle was made hostage on bothe partyes and made hit as sure as hit myghte be that whether party had the vyctory soo to ende. "And therewithal was made hostage on both parties, and made it as sure as it might be, that whether party had the victory, so to end."

There are instances in which a state accepted a princess both from Han and from the Hsiung-nu, and "once Lou-lan had surrendered and presented tributary gifts [to the Han emperor], the Hsiung-nu heard of those events and sent out troups to attack [Lou-lan]. Whereupon [the king of] Lou-lan sent one son as a hostage to the Hsiung-nu and one as hostage to Han."

Han tribute relations involved much the same bribery of the non-Chinese (with money, goods and princesses) as Peace and Friendship; the only qualitative difference was that the Xiongnu accepted nominal vassal status by sending a high-born hostage to China, paying homage to the emperor and offering 'tribute' (which could include objects of no particular value or use to the Chinese).

The putative force of hostageship as a form of surety lay in the threat to the life of the hostage in case of default; ties of blood magnified the threat, hence the prevalence of sons as hostages.

He was the son of Theodemer, one of the leading Goths during the years immediately after Attila's death, and in the early 460s, at the age of seven or eight, Theoderic had been sent to Constantinople as a hostage, to guarantee an agreement between Leo and his father.

For example, a subject surprised in the act of robbery may take a hostage to use as a shield.

One of the hostages pretends to be pregnant and is released at Benghazi Airport, where the aircraft refuels.

With a ski mask pulled tightly down across his face, an uninvited guest was dragging his petrified hostage down the hall on the thirty-eighth floor towards the Presidential Suite.

Synonyms for hostage

Antonyms for hostage

Related Words

Word Forms

• hostages
• hostaging
• hostaged

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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