hostage

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This was one of the reasons police struggled to find him after the shooting, says Dr Vincent Hurley, a former police hostage negotiator who now lectures on policing at Macquarie University.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

Wordle even helped to end a 17-hour hostage ordeal and became the most Googled word of 2022.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

Coyle, from Colorado, was arrested in January 2025, according to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for the release of Americans taken hostage or arbitrarily detained abroad.

From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026

During the Iran hostage crisis, William Daugherty, a newly minted case officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, was kept there, in a 4-foot-wide cell lit 24 hours by a dim, dangling bulb.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

“You are right to laugh, Captain Short. For a while there, I did believe in all that under-the-rainbow crock-of-gold blarney, but now I know better. Now I know about the hostage fund.”

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer