words - Fun with synonyms - "to grab/catch/capture"

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

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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）

Answer

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.