prisoner
/ˈpɹɪzənɚ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.20 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any person held against their will.
Example Sentences
- "Two other prisoners were staying in the same cell as him."
- "The evidence disclosed that the three prisoners were in a public-house together with the prosecutor, Abraham Rhodes, and that in concert with the other two prisoners, the prisoner John Dewhirst placed a pencase on the table in the room where they were assembled, and left the room to get writing-paper."
- "American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan were among the 24 detainees released as part of a complex prisoner swap between Russia, the US and other Western nations. […] Krasikov, a former high-ranking FSB colonel serving a life sentence in a German prison, was on the top of Moscow’s list of Russian prisoners it wanted to exchange."
- "And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords / And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat, / Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue / For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home."
- "Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do."
- "I am no longer a prisoner to fear, for I am a child of God."
Etymology
From Middle English prisoner, from Old French prisonier (compare Medieval Latin prisōnārius), equivalent to prison + -er.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: prisoner, prisonier
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɹɪzənɚ/
- British English: /ˈpɹɪzənə/