1. A person who has no freedom because his or her life is controlled by something or someone else: Karl's wife often felt she was a prisoner of her husband because of the many restrictions he placed on her.
2. Someone who is incarcerated in a penal institution while on trial or for serving a term by a court: David's former colleague was sentenced for five years as a prisoner for embezzling money from his company.
3. Etymology: from Old French prisonier from prison; from Latin prensionem, a contraction of prehensio, "a seizing, an arrest".