From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcaptivitycap‧tiv‧i‧ty /kæpˈtɪvəti/ noun [uncountable] KEEP somebody IN A PLACEwhen a person or animal is kept in a prison, cage etc and not allowed to go where they want OPP freedom The hostages were released from captivity.in captivity animals bred in captivity
Examples from the Corpus
captivity• In his autobiography, Mandela describes his life during captivity.• Both these birds may have escaped from captivity.• James was released from captivity but not from his nobles' displeasure, incited largely by the scheming Red Douglas family.• Wilson was released from captivity just before the end of the war.• One young man of John's age wrote to say that the pointlessness of his captivity had struck a chord with him.• To do so you would have to keep careful pedigree records of caddises bred in captivity, and breeding them is difficult.• The industrialist, who was captured on November 24th, was freed after 84 days in captivity.• In the ocean they live to be 40, double their normal life expectancy in captivity.• Folkes says that he was held in captivity for over a year.• Medicinal leeches in captivity can live for many years, but nobody in my local hospital knows precisely how long.• The hostages are now entering their fourth week in captivity.• These fishes eat well in captivity, but it may take a little coaxing to get them started.• In his book, he describes what life was like during his long captivity.in captivity• Many animals do not breed well in captivity. 