Usually means: Person held to compel action.
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We found 35 dictionaries that define the word hostage:

General (26 matching dictionaries)
  1. hostage: Merriam-Webster.com
  2. hostage: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  3. hostage: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  4. hostage: Collins English Dictionary
  5. hostage: Vocabulary.com
  6. Hostage, hostage: Wordnik
  7. hostage: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
  8. hostage: Wiktionary
  9. hostage: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  10. hostage: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  11. hostage: Infoplease Dictionary
  12. Hostage, hostage: Dictionary.com
  13. hostage: Online Etymology Dictionary
  14. hostage: Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary
  15. Hostage (Billie Eilish song), Hostage (Charles Bukowski album), Hostage (Rez Band album), Hostage (disambiguation), Hostage (novel), Hostage, The Hostage (Dammaj novel), The Hostage (play), The Hostage (song): Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  16. Hostage: Online Plain Text English Dictionary
  17. hostage: Webster's Revised Unabridged, 1913 Edition
  18. hostage: Rhymezone
  19. hostage: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
  20. hostage: Webster's 1828 Dictionary
  21. hostage: Free Dictionary
  22. hostage: Mnemonic Dictionary
  23. hostage: Dictionary/thesaurus
  24. hostage: Wikimedia Commons US English Pronunciations

Business (2 matching dictionaries)
  1. Bouvier's Law Dictionary 1856 Edition (No longer online)
  2. hostage: Legal dictionary

Computing (1 matching dictionary)
  1. hostage: Encyclopedia

Miscellaneous (3 matching dictionaries)
  1. Political (No longer online)
  2. Brilliant Dream Dictionary (No longer online)
  3. hostage: Idioms

Religion (1 matching dictionary)
  1. Hostage: Easton Bible

Slang (1 matching dictionary)
  1. hostage: Urban Dictionary

Tech (1 matching dictionary)
  1. DOD Dictionary of Military Terms (No longer online)

(Note: See hostages as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (
)
American English Definition British English Definition
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.
noun:  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.
noun:  Something that constrains one's actions because it is at risk.
noun:  One who is compelled by something, especially something that poses a threat; one who is not free to choose their own course of action.
noun:  The condition of being held as security or to compel someone else to act or not act in a particular way.
verb:  (possibly nonstandard) To give (someone or something) as a hostage to (someone or something else).
verb:  (possibly nonstandard) 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.

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