political prisoner
- noun
- /pəˈlɪtɪkəl ˈprɪzənər/
- Activists are organizing a protest to demand the release of all political prisoners currently detained.
- release political prisoners
- free political prisoners
- former political prisoners
I mean, we, we know of political prisoners, we know how torturous it can be.
- I mean, we, we know of political prisoners, we know how torturous it can be.
- It was mostly concerned with you'd, you'd write letters to dictatorships to free political prisoners.
- I mean, one of the big concerns is for for one of the Emiratis most well known political prisoners, Ahmed Mansoor.
- The first I would call Angela the prisoner, and the second Angela the political prisoner, and the third Angela the political icon.
- He would take political prisoners, bring them out to the courtyard so the rest of the prisoners could see.
- So the Sandinistas want all Sandinista political prisoners released.
- We're trying to, it started from beatings that so one of the political, some of the political prisoners got beat up by guards.
Examples
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They announced three goals: A peaceful transition to democracy, amnesty for political prisoners, and participation by Cuban exiles in the transition to democracy.
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The Minister of Justice will oversee the release of political prisoners, the unbanning of political exiles.
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There are black political prisoners here in the United States!
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And as the Secretary of State has said, even one political prisoner is one too many.
Blog text (25) -
The government also tried to resolve the problem of political prisoners.
Academic text (1991) -
A number of political prisoners, imprisoned as part of the KCK trial, were released during the process.
Academic text (2017) -
Leaders of opposition parties had talked about political prisoners, but their discussions had been largely rhetorical.
Academic text (1994) -
In addition, China's judicial system remains arbitrary and often corrupt, with political prisoners usually receiving the worst treatment.
Academic text (1999) -
In October 1989, eight political prisoners, cohorts of Nelson Mandela, were released from prison.
Academic text (1996) -
Fidel Castro is emptying his jails of political prisoners and allowing them to flee Cuba.
Synonyms
A person who authorities hold because of political beliefs or actions
Antonyms
How Severely Persecuted
Surface Forms
Morphology
political + prisoner
The meaning 'a person imprisoned because of their political beliefs or activities' is directly and transparently built from 'political' (related to politics) modifying 'prisoner' (someone who is imprisoned), so a learner who knows both words can infer the cause of imprisonment. This adjective + noun composition expressing reason is common across languages, making the expression immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Political prisoner names someone put in jail for their politics: political means about the government or public ideas and prisoner is someone kept in jail. Imagine a person locked in a cell for speaking out or protesting, and you can see why it means 'a person imprisoned because of their political views or actions'.