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Here's a question for you experts. I've actually asked this to my Japanese
friends, but I want to see how you guys answer too.

Explain the differences in the following verbs and which one(s) appear more
commonly in everyday speech:

  1. [掴]{つか}む
  2. [捕]{と}る
  3. [捕]{と}らえる
  4. [捕]{と}らえられる - passive
  5. [捕]{つか}まえる
  6. [捕]{つか}まえられる - passive
  7. [捕]{と}らわれる
  8. [捕]{つか}まる - see update below

* * *

**Update - 2012/05/08:** Looking back at this question after all this time, I
knew there was a reason I was including the passive verbs (4 and 6 above).
It's because I left a verb out of my original set: `[捕]{つか}まる`. So then the
question with the passives is, what's the difference between `捕まる`, `捕らえられる`,
and `捕まえられる`?

Based on @Derek Schaab's answer below, it seems that `捕らえられる` would mostly
apply to animals/things that "are caught". But which would be the most
correct/natural way to say "The criminal was finally caught"?

> 犯人がやっと(捕まった・捕らえられた・捕まえられた）
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words synonyms passive-voice
Fun with synonyms - "to grab/catch/capture"
Ignoring the passives, which can be inferred:

  * 掴む: grasp. 腕を掴む. The action ends once your hand closes on the object. This is in contrast to 握る, which focuses on the time spent gripping the object after it has been taken in the hand.
  * 捕る: capture, as in an animal. 魚を捕る. Can be substituted with 捕獲する. (There are many kanji for とる, the choice of which depends on the object, as I'm sure you know.)
  * 捕らえる: (also) capture, or subdue. (But I usually see this written as 捉える, preceded by と, and meaning "perceive, see/recognize/take (as)": 好機と捉える.)
  * 捕まえる: prevent something from running away, hold tight to something without any intention of letting go. Can be both physical (犯人を捕まえる) or abstract (人の心を捕まえる).
  * 捕らわれる: be bound/taken captive by something (often abstract). 恐怖に捕らわれる.
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This is just a guess to answer your updated challenge based on then entries in
the プログレッシブ dictionary.

Whereas 捕らえる puts the emphasis on the capture of a criminal, 捕まえる can be used
to refer to either the capture (捕らえる） or the detaining (引き留める).

In your question you made the criminal the subject and used the word やっと to
mean finally caught: The emphasis seems to on the capture not the detention so
捕らえられた is least ambiguous but if one is better 捕まる feels more natural.

> 犯人は[警察に]やっと捕まった。|｜The criminal was finally caught [by the police].

If the criminal was the object then (I think) the following, which is based on
an example in the dictionary, is also natural:

> 警察はやっと犯人を捕らえた。｜The police finally caught the criminal.

I look forward to being corrected.
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