{
    "term": "hostage",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "c1",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "a person who is captured and held prisoner by a person or group, and who may be injured or killed if people do not do what the person or group is asking",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Three children were **taken hostage** during the bank robbery."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He was **held hostage** for almost a year."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The government is negotiating the release of the hostages."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The hijackers kept the pilot as a hostage on board the plane."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The gunmen took 24 hostages."
                },
                {
                    "text": "diplomatic efforts to get the hostages released"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["War and conflict", "Crime and punishment"],
            "collocations": {
                "verb + hostage": ["hold (somebody)", "keep (somebody)", "seize"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "something that you have, or have promised to do, that could cause trouble or worry in the future",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɒstɪdʒ/",
                "audio": "ho/hostage/hostage__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈhɑːstɪdʒ/",
                "audio": "ho/hostage/hostage__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: from Old French, based on late Latin obsidatus ‘the state of being a hostage’ (the earliest sense in English), from Latin obses, obsid- ‘hostage’."
}