| 释义 |
Definition of hostage in English: hostagenoun ˈhɒstɪdʒˈhɑstɪdʒ A person seized or held as security for the fulfilment of a condition. 人质 they were held hostage by armed rebels Example sentencesExamples - One of the four Italian hostages who worked for a security company was killed.
- The grim find came just days after hopes were raised for three of the hostages as a new videotape of them was released.
- He said they would free all the hostages if police released the rest of the detained protesters.
- The three hostages were rescued, although one is in serious condition in hospital.
- Let me make clear that I join every other civilized person in hoping the hostages are released unharmed.
- The army used microphones to urge the gunmen to release the hostages and surrender.
- Finally the vehicle was abandoned and the hostages were made to walk on foot.
- Yes, we cannot really impose on him a condition to leave his family behind as hostages.
- Many of the 349 hostages now being treated in hospital are in a serious condition and could yet die.
- They had become hostages at sea, where captives are more discreetly disposed of than anywhere else.
- Most of the child hostages who were seized by terrorists were reported to be alive.
- You have a known murderer, out from prison on license, who is holding hostages in a house.
- The gang took the manager to his branch while holding the rest of his family hostage.
- This was meant to pave the way for talks aimed at gaining the release of the hostages.
- The blasts also triggered chaos inside the building, which a number of hostages seized upon as their cue to escape.
- These rules made sense in an era when hijackers demanded money or held hostages for political purposes.
- Japan can breathe a momentary sigh of relief after the release of three Japanese hostages.
- Ten hostages have been released unharmed but five remain unaccounted for.
- Scores of hostages from two dozen countries have been seized in the last four months.
- Seventeen hostages remain in the jungle where they have been held captive for two and a half months.
Synonyms captive, prisoner, detainee, internee pawn, security, surety, pledge
PhrasesAn undertaking or remark seen as unwise because it invites trouble or could prove difficult to live up to. 招惹麻烦（或不明智、很难做到）的行为（或许诺、意见），惹风险之事 making objectives explicit is to give a hostage to fortune 讲明目标就要惹起风险。 Example sentencesExamples - In essence, the manifesto which evolved during the 1990s was a pragmatic statement of radical intent which went out of its way to remove the more obvious hostages to fortune which were never going to be implemented anyway.
- Promises made in the heat of an election campaign all too often create hostages to fortune.
- There's no point in giving hostages to fortune, is there?
- The coalition which will form the new government will almost certainly have to give a number of hostages to fortune if it is to get there.
- This brave statement may yet prove to be a hostage to fortune.
- Nobody who has been an MP for 12 years and a front-bencher for eight can be unaware of the risks involved in handing hostages to fortune.
- There is no point in producing a blog if it is not honest and open but politicians are wary beasts because we are all hostages to fortune and we don't want to give our opponents ammunition.
- These are just early signs and it would be giving hostages to fortune to suggest that suddenly everything is back fully on track in terms of global growth.
- They might pass something that proves an electoral liability or makes a minister a hostage to fortune.
- Statues, like wives and children, are hostages to fortune; they inspire superstitious dread while their originals are in power, and an equally superstitious hatred when they lose the aura of power.
OriginMiddle English: from Old French, based on late Latin obsidatus 'the state of being a hostage' (the earliest sense in English), from Latin obses, obsid- 'hostage'. The word hostage has no connection with host (see hospital) in any of its uses—it goes back to Latin ob ‘towards, against’ and sedere ‘to sit’, used to mean ‘the state of being a hostage’. Originally an ally or enemy would hand over a hostage as security for the fulfilment of an undertaking. Now hostages are ‘taken’ as well as ‘held’, and are very seldom handed over voluntarily. In a hostage to fortune, the word fortune means ‘fate’, with the idea being that future events are no longer under a person's control but in the hands of fate. In a rather jaundiced reflection on marriage the English philosopher Francis Bacon wrote in 1625: ‘He that hath wife and children, hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue, or of mischief.’
Definition of hostage in US English: hostagenounˈhɑstɪdʒˈhästij A person seized or held as security for the fulfillment of a condition. 人质 the kidnapper had instructed the hostage's family to drop the ransom at noon Example sentencesExamples - He said they would free all the hostages if police released the rest of the detained protesters.
- Let me make clear that I join every other civilized person in hoping the hostages are released unharmed.
- You have a known murderer, out from prison on license, who is holding hostages in a house.
- They had become hostages at sea, where captives are more discreetly disposed of than anywhere else.
- The blasts also triggered chaos inside the building, which a number of hostages seized upon as their cue to escape.
- One of the four Italian hostages who worked for a security company was killed.
- Japan can breathe a momentary sigh of relief after the release of three Japanese hostages.
- These rules made sense in an era when hijackers demanded money or held hostages for political purposes.
- Many of the 349 hostages now being treated in hospital are in a serious condition and could yet die.
- The three hostages were rescued, although one is in serious condition in hospital.
- Most of the child hostages who were seized by terrorists were reported to be alive.
- Finally the vehicle was abandoned and the hostages were made to walk on foot.
- The grim find came just days after hopes were raised for three of the hostages as a new videotape of them was released.
- The gang took the manager to his branch while holding the rest of his family hostage.
- Ten hostages have been released unharmed but five remain unaccounted for.
- The army used microphones to urge the gunmen to release the hostages and surrender.
- Scores of hostages from two dozen countries have been seized in the last four months.
- This was meant to pave the way for talks aimed at gaining the release of the hostages.
- Yes, we cannot really impose on him a condition to leave his family behind as hostages.
- Seventeen hostages remain in the jungle where they have been held captive for two and a half months.
Synonyms captive, prisoner, detainee, internee
Phraseshold (or take) someone hostage Seize and keep someone as a hostage. 把某人劫持为人质 they were held hostage by armed rebels taken hostage at gunpoint Example sentencesExamples - It's like the Stockholm Syndrome where hostages imprint on the people who hold them hostage and fight against their rescuers.
- The purpose of such action is to force average people to their knees and hold them hostage to the horrors of terrorism.
- It doesn't make sense for the terrorists to abduct a person, hold him hostage, and not tell anyone until just before they execute him.
- There is never a good business reason to let an employee hold you hostage.
- They will take you from me, and hold you hostage.
- ‘We needed to look the beast in the eye,’ explains Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ‘so that the past wouldn't hold us hostage any more.’
- They seize the recruits and hold them hostage for a few hours.
- They will have the power to hold us hostage to blackmail and terror.
- The murder was unusual in that was no attempt was made by his attackers to hold him hostage or make political capital out of his nationality.
- They hold you hostage and feed you horrible fattening food you would never eat anywhere else.
An act, commitment, or remark that is regarded as unwise because it invites trouble or could prove difficult to live up to. 招惹麻烦（或不明智、很难做到）的行为（或许诺、意见），惹风险之事 making objectives explicit is to give a hostage to fortune 讲明目标就要惹起风险。 Example sentencesExamples - The coalition which will form the new government will almost certainly have to give a number of hostages to fortune if it is to get there.
- There is no point in producing a blog if it is not honest and open but politicians are wary beasts because we are all hostages to fortune and we don't want to give our opponents ammunition.
- Promises made in the heat of an election campaign all too often create hostages to fortune.
- Nobody who has been an MP for 12 years and a front-bencher for eight can be unaware of the risks involved in handing hostages to fortune.
- In essence, the manifesto which evolved during the 1990s was a pragmatic statement of radical intent which went out of its way to remove the more obvious hostages to fortune which were never going to be implemented anyway.
- There's no point in giving hostages to fortune, is there?
- This brave statement may yet prove to be a hostage to fortune.
- Statues, like wives and children, are hostages to fortune; they inspire superstitious dread while their originals are in power, and an equally superstitious hatred when they lose the aura of power.
- These are just early signs and it would be giving hostages to fortune to suggest that suddenly everything is back fully on track in terms of global growth.
- They might pass something that proves an electoral liability or makes a minister a hostage to fortune.
OriginMiddle English: from Old French, based on late Latin obsidatus ‘the state of being a hostage’ (the earliest sense in English), from Latin obses, obsid- ‘hostage’. |