From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe (a) hostage to somethingbe (a) hostage to somethingto be influenced and controlled by something, so that you are not free to do what you want Our country must not be held hostage to our past. → hostage
Examples from the Corpus
be (a) hostage to something• But this development of local state institutions can be a hostage to fortune.• Making objectives explicit is a hostage to fortune and the failure to do so may reflect a shrewd awareness. 2.• Now, more than ever, the president will be a hostage to his own ethnic minority, the Zaghawa.• You were hostage to your producers. 