No. 1,857 in Portuguese
reféns
"Reféns" means "hostages" in English.
In a sentence
Os reféns foram libertados após longas negociações.
The hostages were released after long negotiations.
In this sentence, 'reféns' is used to refer to individuals held captive by someone, showcasing its meaning of 'hostages'.
O medo os tornou reféns de suas próprias inseguranças.
Fear made them hostages of their own insecurities.
Here, 'reféns' is used metaphorically to describe being controlled or limited by insecurities, demonstrating its figurative application.
Os cidadãos se sentem como reféns das decisões políticas.
The citizens feel like hostages to political decisions.
In this context, 'reféns' metaphorically describes individuals feeling powerless or dominated by external factors like political choices.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “reféns” in actual Portuguese podcasts.
Find “reféns” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Portuguese podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into português, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Portuguese books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).