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
see also take-no-prisoners, take no prisoners
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 Kremlin also says there will be a prisoner swap of 175 prisoners on Wednesday.
—
Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 21 Mar. 2025
The shaky ceasefire collapsed on Tuesday when Israel bombarded Gaza, shattering two months of calm that also saw dozens of hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
—Ibrahim Dahman, CNN, 21 Mar. 2025
The law also lowered some mandatory minimum prison sentences for prisoners given an enhanced penalty if they were convicted of a serious drug felony or serious violence felony.
—Taylor Millard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Mar. 2025
The state prison campus south of Boise encompasses six of those facilities, including the state’s maximum security prison that houses prisoners on death row.
—Kevin Fixler, Idaho Statesman, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for prisoner
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Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 21 Mar. 2025
The shaky ceasefire collapsed on Tuesday when Israel bombarded Gaza, shattering two months of calm that also saw dozens of hostages exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
—Ibrahim Dahman, CNN, 21 Mar. 2025
The law also lowered some mandatory minimum prison sentences for prisoners given an enhanced penalty if they were convicted of a serious drug felony or serious violence felony.
—Taylor Millard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 21 Mar. 2025
The state prison campus south of Boise encompasses six of those facilities, including the state’s maximum security prison that houses prisoners on death row.
—Kevin Fixler, Idaho Statesman, 19 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for prisoner
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Cite this Entry
“Prisoner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prisoner. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
prisoner
noun
pris·on·er
ˈpriz-nər 
-ᵊn-ər
: a person who has been captured or locked up
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