Synonyms for captivity
Most common
imprisonment confinement incarceration duress slavery servitude
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Imprisonment
imprisonment, confinement, incarceration, duress, immurement, durance dated
2. Slavery
slavery, servitude, enslavement, bondage, subjection, vassalage, serfdom, thraldom UK, thralldom US
Definitions
- n. 1
The state of being captive.
The animals lived in captivity at the zoo.
- n. 2
The state or period of being imprisoned, confined, or enslaved.
Forms
- Plural
- captivities → imprisonments, confinements, incarcerations, immurements…
Example sentences
- imprisonment The judge sentenced him to one year's imprisonment.
- confinement Bruno spends his birthday in solitary confinement.
- incarceration The U.S. incarceration rate is the highest in the world.
- duress Yanni's personality changed because he was under such duress.
- slavery Well, my friend, it's called "modern-day" slavery.
- servitude Every certitude is a kind of servitude.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| captivity | rising | |
| imprisonment | falling | |
| confinement | falling | |
| incarceration | rising | |
| duress | rising | |
| slavery | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 6 letters
- duress2
- 7 letters
- slavery3, bondage2, serfdom, durance
- 8 letters
- thraldom
- 9 letters
- servitude3, vassalage, thralldom
- 10 letters
- subjection, immurement
- 11 letters
- confinement3, enslavement3
- 12 letters
- imprisonment4
- 13 letters
- incarceration5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (duress2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- captivité
- Italiano
- cattività
- Español
- cautiverio
- Deutsch
- Gefangenschaft