trapped

1. 1
   adjective

   Caught in a trap and unable to escape.

   Rangers found a deer trapped in a poacher's snare.

   The trapped rabbit struggled against the thin wire.

   Similarsnared

   Oppositefree

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of trap.

   The storm trapped dozens of travelers at the airport overnight.

   Rescuers reached the miners who had been trapped underground.

   Note

   The verb behind the adjectives reaches well beyond snares. Because trap can also be intransitive, trapped often takes no object. It can mean setting traps for game (he trapped along the river all winter) or fleeing suddenly. In carrier aviators' slang, it means landing on the arresting gear (the jet trapped on its second pass). After be, the participle shades into the adjective: they were trapped can name either the event or the resulting state.

3. 3
   adjective

   Caught in a state of stagnation or despair, with no apparent way to move forward in life.

   Many caregivers feel trapped, unable to leave or imagine any other life.

   He described himself as trapped in a marriage that had long since gone cold.

   Similarstuck, stifled, confined, caged

   Oppositefree, liberated

   Note

   Psychology's word for a perception rather than a predicament. What matters is that the person sees no viable escape from adverse circumstances, and clinicians tie that perception closely to hopelessness and elevated suicide risk. In ordinary speech it follows feel or describe oneself as, and takes in plus the situation: trapped in a marriage, in a life. It is the figurative descendant of the literal snare sense, and it grades naturally: people feel more trapped as time passes.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3