ˌprisoner of ˈwar noun [countable]
a soldier, member of the navy etc who is caught by the enemy during a war and kept as a prisoner

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

prisoner someone who is kept in a prison as a punishment for a crime, or while they are waiting for their trial:
Prisoners may be locked in their cells for twenty-two hours a day.
a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder
convict especially written someone who has been found guilty of a crime and sent to a prison. Convict is used especially about someone who is sent to prison for a long time. It is more commonly used in historical descriptions, or in the phrase an escaped convict:
The convicts were sent from England to Australia.
Police were hunting for an escaped convict.
Low-risk convicts help to fight forest fires and clean up public lands.
inmate someone who is kept in a prison or a mental hospital:
Some inmates are allowed to have special privileges.
He was described by a fellow inmate as a quiet man.
captive especially literary someone who is kept somewhere and not allowed to go free, especially in a war or fighting. Captive is a rather formal word which is used especially in literature:
Their objective was to disarm the enemy and release the captives.
She was held captive (=kept as a prisoner) in the jungle for over three years.
prisoner of war a soldier, member of the navy etc who is caught by the enemy during a war and kept in the enemy’s country:
My grandad was a prisoner of war in Germany.
They agreed to release two Iranian prisoners of war.
hostage someone who is kept somewhere as a prisoner, in order to force people to agree to do something, for example in order to get money or to achive a political aim:
Diplomats are continuing their efforts to secure the release of the hostages.
The US hostages were held in Tehran for over a year.
detainee/internee someone who is kept in a prison, usually because of their political views and often without a trial:
In some cases, political detainees have been beaten or mistreated.
23,531 people passed through the camps between 1944 and 1962, including 14,647 political internees.
the detainees at Guantanamo Bay

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲