1
as in to plunder
to search through with the intent of committing robbery
it was clear that the thieves who had ransacked the museum were professionals—they bypassed most of the exhibits and went straight for the vaults
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in to search
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
I've ransacked the whole house for that book you lent me and it's nowhere to be found
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples of ransack in a Sentence
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of
Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback
about these examples.
Recent Examples on the Web
Investigators say the woman’s house was ransacked and that Hernandez-Hernandez’s fingerprints were identified from the wooden box which contained the coins.
—
Scott McDonald, Fox News, 3 Oct. 2024
No one in Hollywood has forgotten the images of the U.S. Capitol being ransacked and pillaged on Jan. 6, 2021, following Trump’s loss to Biden.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2024
An unknown number of people were inside the store for about two minutes, ransacked it and assaulted the store clerk, leaving him with a bloody nose, according to the Police Department.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
An angry crowd ransacked the building, destroying and setting fire to equipment including drones, computers and over 200 documents, the center’s managers said.
—Reuters, CNN, 21 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ransack 
Scott McDonald, Fox News, 3 Oct. 2024
No one in Hollywood has forgotten the images of the U.S. Capitol being ransacked and pillaged on Jan. 6, 2021, following Trump’s loss to Biden.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2024
An unknown number of people were inside the store for about two minutes, ransacked it and assaulted the store clerk, leaving him with a bloody nose, according to the Police Department.
—Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
An angry crowd ransacked the building, destroying and setting fire to equipment including drones, computers and over 200 documents, the center’s managers said.
—Reuters, CNN, 21 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ransack
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ransack
Verb
-
A week after Helene smashed into the Southeast, power outages, water shortages and impassable roads stymie recovery Tropical systems, of course, can plunder coastlines.Sharif Paget, CNN, 3 Oct. 2024
-
And neither Coppola nor Snyder deals with how ideologues have plundered the West.Armond White, National Review, 9 Oct. 2024
Verb
-
With the restaurant industry buffeted by higher costs driven in part by rising minimum wages in California and other states, Miso is one of several tech startups betting more businesses will be searching for new ways to save money, reduce employee turnover and fill more orders.Queenie Wong Los Angeles Times (TNS), arkansasonline.com, 4 Nov. 2024
-
After six weeks of searching, and using a tip from a confidential informant, the men’s bodies were found buried in an earthen dam, near where Mississippi’s power brokers were about to gather for the annual Neshoba County Fair.Paige Williams, The New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Big as the performance is, Stiller isn’t alone: Writer-director-star Eric Schaeffer also pillages shamelessly from the Sundance playbook of whimsy, giving himself the lion’s share of irony-laden pickup lines and depressive witticisms about the pointlessness of romance.Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
-
In the film, Diop, who is French and of Senegalese descent, follows the 2021 repatriation of 26 artifacts from the Musée du quai Branly back to their place of origin, Dahomey, once a kingdom in the modern-day West African nation of Benin, which France had pillaged in the 1890s.Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 8 Oct. 2024
Verb
-
But with the Trumps, Musk also may have found a sense of family that has eluded him in certain ways.Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2024
-
The researchers found that replacing any less active behavior with five minutes of exercise could lower systolic blood pressure by 0.68 points and diastolic blood pressure by 0.54 points.Linda Carroll, NBC News, 7 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Herbert was sacked six times in the first half, including three by the Browns’ menacing Myles Garrett.Elliott Teaford, Orange County Register, 4 Nov. 2024
-
He was sacked twice to help the Titans kill drives, including taking a 19-yard loss on the Bears’ second series.Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 4 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
Key Background Fear of unrest and looting in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere lingers after unrest was recorded following the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, including the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as well as the protests following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.Conor Murray, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
-
Some say that, in taking the material, the French looted something intangible: the Beninese people’s chance at seeing themselves in a larger historical context and not just through the gaze of white victimizers.Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2024
Verb
-
The world is a stakeholder, not a bystander, and cannot remain silent as Brazil despoils this indispensable carbon sink, irreplaceable oxygen source, and precious repository of plant and animal life.Stewart Patrick, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
-
Meanwhile, human activity has imperiled biodiversity as people despoil lands and waters, introduce invasive species, and harvest natural resources unsustainably.Stewart Patrick, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
Verb
-
So when Longo posted about his anger with the DEC for using tax dollars to raid his nonprofit sanctuary, it got picked up by local Republican politicians blaming Gov. Kathy Hochul.Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 4 Nov. 2024
-
This event marks the 1938 November night during which members of the Nazi party raided, destroyed and burned Jewish businesses and synagogues throughout Germany and Austria, killing more than 90 Jewish people.Brian Gioiele, Connecticut Post, 1 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near ransack
Cite this Entry
“Ransack.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransack. Accessed 17 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share