abduction
1 Americannoun
noun
-
the act of taking someone away by force or cunning; kidnapping
-
the action of certain muscles in pulling a leg, arm, etc away from the median axis of the body
Etymology
Origin of abduction1
First recorded in 1620–30; abduct + -ion
Origin of abduction2
First recorded in 1690–1700, abduction is from the New Latin word abductiōn- (stem of abductiō; translation of Greek apagōgḗ ). See abduct, -ion
Explanation
If you're the victim of an abduction, you've been carried away against your will — kidnapped. The word comes from Latin ab "away" + ducere "lead." Abduction is also when you move your arm or leg away from your midline. "The Abduction from the Seraglio" is the English title of a famous Mozart opera, in which a nobleman tries to rescue his betrothed, who has been captured — abducted — by pirates and sold into a pasha's harem, or seraglio. At the end of the opera, the pasha is overwhelmed with mercy and frees everyone and sends them home. So there really isn’t an abduction from the seraglio; the pasha lets everybody go.
Vocabulary lists containing abduction
Lead the Way: Duc and Duct
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Freak the Mighty
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Strike A Pose: Positions and Posture
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Thor for thunderstorms, shrieking Sirens to explain shipwrecks, the abduction of Persephone the reason behind the bleakness of winter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
She returned to “Today” on April 6, determined to solve her mother’s abduction by leveraging her TV fame and coast-to-coast reach—the same lofty platform she worried might have drawn the attention of Nancy’s kidnappers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
The journalist's eyewitness account of the abduction became a crucial lead in the investigation.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The BBC has contacted the FBI, which has with Pima County spent months investigating the elder Guthrie's mysterious abduction from her home near Tucson, Arizona.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
The Mexica reacted to the sacrilegious abduction of their leader with the same baffled horror with which Europeans later reacted to Cromwell’s execution of Charles I in 1649.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
