abductee
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of abductee
Explanation
An abductee is someone who has been kidnapped. Sometimes, a kidnapper will demand large amounts of money in exchange for the return of an abductee. An abductee is the victim of a crime, a person who has been seized and taken away against their will. If you take your neighbor's pet rabbit without asking and hide it in your room, that poor bunny is an abductee. The word comes from abduct, "to kidnap," and the -ee ending, which signifies "person to whom the verb's action is done."
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.
One 86-year-old abductee, Yaffa Adar, kept precise track of her days in captivity, her granddaughter proudly related.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2023
In the cold open, McKinnon played one of her many recurring characters, alien abductee Colleen Rafferty, who shared wildly descriptive details of her experience with Pentagon intelligence officials.
From Washington Post • May 22, 2022
In 1996 I was invited to the clinic of the Harvard psychiatrist John Mack to witness the regression hypnosis of a self-professed alien abductee.
From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2021
One former abductee called him "a tough fighter who was always on the move" - though with a limp from a bad leg injury.
From BBC • Feb. 4, 2021
Many families turned to indigenous practices such as cleansing rituals: lighting a bonfire around the abductee, stepping on eggs, bending a spear.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 2, 2018
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.
