hostage means 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.
hostage is pronounced /ˈhɒs.tɪd͡ʒ/.
Why “hostage” is a great word
A person seized or held as a pledge to compel another party to act or refrain from acting in a certain way, under threat of harm. Its lineage winds from the Latin *obses* (captive) through Vulgar Latin and Old French, acquiring its initial *h* from the unrelated *hoste* (host), a graft that speaks of a perverse hospitality. From Middle English *hostage*, *ostage*, from Old French *hostage*, *ostage*, likely from Vulgar Latin **obsidāticum* (“condition of being held captive”), from Latin *obses* (“hostage, captive”); the initial *h-* was influenced by Old French *hoste* (“host”). First attested in English in the 13th century. Unlike a “prisoner” (deprived of liberty as punishment) or a “captive” (anyone held in confinement), a hostage is a living token, a piece of human currency whose value is measured in the desperation of others. It is the terrified stillness in a chair wired with explosives, the forced smile in a proof-of-life photograph, the quiet bargaining chip in a distant negotiation—a body made a bridge between two wills, its worth solely in its potential for ruin.
Etymology
From Middle English hostage, ostage, from Old French hostage, ostage. This, in turn, is either from Old French hoste (“host”) + -age (in which case the sense development is from taking someone into "lodging" to taking them into "captivity", to applying the term to a captive), or is from Vulgar Latin obsidāticum (“condition of being held captive”), from Latin obses (“hostage, captive”), with the initial h- added under the influence of hoste or another word. Displaced native Old English ġīsl.
noun
- 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.
- 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.e.g.“For example, a subject surprised in the act of robbery may take a hostage to use as a shield.”
- Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk.e.g.““Oh, well,” I consented sadly, “the garden will lose half of its charm, but such, I suppose, is my hostage to prosperity.””
- One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action.
- The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way.
verb
- To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else).
- 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.
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- ransom 87% match — Money paid for the freeing of a hostage. vs hostage →
- duress 84% match — Harsh treatment. vs hostage →
- vassalage 83% match — The state of being a vassal; fealty. vs hostage →
- vassal 82% match — The grantee of a fief, a subordinate granted use of a superior's land and its income in exchange for vows of fidelity and homage and (typically) military service. vs hostage →
- surety 82% match — Certainty. vs hostage →
- besiege 82% match — To beset or surround with armed forces for the purpose of compelling to surrender, to lay siege to, beleaguer. vs hostage →
- handfast 81% match — A hold, grasp; custody, power of confining or keeping. vs hostage →
- prison 81% match — A place or institution where people are held against their will, in the US especially for long-term confinement, as of those convicted of serious crimes or otherwise considered undesirable by the government. vs hostage →