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
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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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ransack
Cops found no evidence that the store was ransacked and could not tell whether any of the pricey jewelry usually bought and sold there had been taken, police sources said at the time.
—
Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 5 May 2025
Last February, soldiers ransacked Eid’s home and, on finding his life savings in cash, turned him over to the police under suspicion of selling guns or drugs.
—Ben Ehrenreich, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
The front door was broken down, some windows smashed — the place had been ransacked.
—Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2025
First, beefy agents from the F.S.B., the federal security service, ransacked his apartment before dawn.
—Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ransack
Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 5 May 2025
Last February, soldiers ransacked Eid’s home and, on finding his life savings in cash, turned him over to the police under suspicion of selling guns or drugs.
—Ben Ehrenreich, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
The front door was broken down, some windows smashed — the place had been ransacked.
—Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 24 Mar. 2025
First, beefy agents from the F.S.B., the federal security service, ransacked his apartment before dawn.
—Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ransack
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ransack
Verb
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After France fell to Germany, the Nazis requisitioned the museum as a sorting facility for art plundered from French Jewish dealers and citizens disenfranchised by the state.—
Nina Siegal,
New York Times,
17 May 2025
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Some Quebecois housed troops or joined pro-patriot militias; others joined the British in firing muskets and artillery at the men invading their homeland and plundering their homesteads.—
Eli Wizevich,
Smithsonian Magazine,
12 May 2025
Verb
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It had been visited by an investigator, searching for locations where someone may have spotted Chandler around the time of the murders.—
Ruth Chenetz,
CBS News,
31 May 2025
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Divers were searching New York City’s East River under the Roosevelt Island Bridge Friday for a missing 15-year-old girl who went into the water but never resurfaced.—
Thomas Tracy,
New York Daily News,
30 May 2025
Verb
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On Sunday, the editorial staff of Télé Pluriel in the Delmas 19 neighborhood, said heavily armed gang members had broken through the station’s main barrier sometime during the night and set fire to its premises while also pillaging their offices.—
Jacqueline Charles,
Miami Herald,
16 Mar. 2025
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Uh uh, method dressing is forever, at least for Timothée Chalamet—until the next role-of-a-lifetime comes along, or the parcels of Bob Dylan ephemera pillaged from the online auction houses stop coming through the young actor’s door that is.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
16 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Ellie finds a small fishing boat to take her across the water to the aquarium.—
Samantha Stutsman,
People.com,
26 May 2025
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More information can be found online at pnw.edu/leadership-institute or by reaching out to the Leadership Institute at [email protected].—
Post-Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
26 May 2025
Verb
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It was sent to Arron Lambert, the shop’s owner, in January 2022, a month before the Argentinian was sacked.—
Beren Cross,
New York Times,
22 May 2025
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The 166-year-old St. Francis College in New York City, has sacked a quarter of its staff.—
Jon Marcus,
NPR,
18 May 2025
Verb
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Hamas has acknowledged executing individuals accused of looting and announced a 5,000-member force to combat armed criminals.—
Juwayriah Wright,
Time,
19 May 2025
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All of the 37 public hospitals in Khartoum have been severely damaged and looted, Saad said.—
Emmanuel Akinwotu,
NPR,
16 May 2025
Verb
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Anderson prefers to characterize Loewe as a cultural brand rather than a luxury one, finding the latter term despoiled.—
Rebecca Mead,
The New Yorker,
17 Mar. 2025
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Growth in Africa must be clean, both in terms of generating energy and not despoiling the continent’s landscape and natural resources.—
Jack A. Goldstone,
Foreign Affairs,
18 May 2023
Verb
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Khartoum was founded as a slave market, in 1821, and Arabs continued to raid southern areas, including the Nuba Mountains, for human chattel long after the practice was outlawed, in 1924.—
Nicolas Niarchos,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
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Wildlife biologists in Florida documented a bobcat raiding a python nest back in 2021.—
Bill Kearney,
Sun Sentinel,
19 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ransack.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransack. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
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