hijack
Americanverb (used with object)
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hijacks,
present (3rd person singular)
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hijacked,
past participle, past
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hijacking
present participle
-
to steal (cargo) from a truck or other vehicle after forcing it to stop.
to hijack a load of whiskey.
-
to rob (a vehicle) after forcing it to stop.
They hijacked the truck before it entered the city.
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to seize (a vehicle) by force or threat of force.
-
to skyjack.
verb (used without object)
-
hijacks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
hijacked,
past participle, past
-
hijacking
present participle
noun
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hijacks
plural
verb
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(tr) to seize, divert, or appropriate (a vehicle or the goods it carries) while in transit
to hijack an aircraft
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to rob (a person or vehicle) by force
to hijack a traveller
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(esp in the US during Prohibition) to rob (a bootlegger or smuggler) of his illicit goods or to steal (illicit goods) in transit
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hijacksimple
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hijackssimple
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have hijackedperfect
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has hijackedperfect
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am hijackingprogressive
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are hijackingprogressive
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is hijackingprogressive
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have been hijackingperfect progressive
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has been hijackingperfect progressive
Past
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hijackedsimple
-
had hijackedperfect
-
was hijackingprogressive
-
were hijackingprogressive
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had been hijackingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hijack
An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; back formation from hijacker
Explanation
To hijack a vehicle is to take control of it by force. Chances are you've seen an action movie in which some villains hijack a car or plane. To hijack a vehicle is to take it over illegally. Such a crime is called a hijack or a hijacking. Hijack can be used more generally to mean “take over.” If your friend has a bad habit of interrupting other people to talk about himself, you can say that he tends to hijack the conversation.
Vocabulary lists containing hijack
President Obama's U.N. Address
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Towers Falling
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Mid-Air
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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.
See Examples For:
There’s also a difference between not allowing something to bother you and sitting back while people hijack your meetings.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
McKinney’s sudden emergence in the race in May saw him hijack the incumbent’s support from law enforcement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
Some of the young people behind last year's protests have since fallen out with him, warning him not to "hijack the rebellion".
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
The late author’s message held lessons about life, but we’ll hijack it for one about financial markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026
Peter Van Houten would not hijack Gus’s funeral.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
Previous waves of reservation hijacks have seen hotels hacked in order to get access to the hotel's Booking.com account and send out phishing emails and text messages.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
As with social media, it appears we have created in AI a compelling technology that hijacks instincts that are essential to our survival.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
A study published January in the journal mBio found that the Zika virus hijacks a host protein called ANKLE2, which is a key protein in brain development.
From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2025
Instead they have strands of RNA floating around in the cell waiting to be activated, when the virus infects an organism and hijacks its cellular production facilities.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2024
They subvert their hosts' cellular programming to make copies of themselves, just as a computer virus hijacks an infected computer and causes it to send out more copies of the virus.
From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by James Boyle
In late 2023 and early 2024, the Houthis hijacked a commercial ship in the Red Sea and launched attacks on dozens of other vessels, leading container-shipping companies to halt their Red Sea routes.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
Newly appointed "60 Minutes" executive producer Nick Bilton said Pelley "hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt."
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
The Sept. 11 attacks included at least one hijacked plane aimed at Washington.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
After Al Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in 2001, he was widely praised for his leadership, and Oprah Winfrey called him “America’s mayor.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2026
“Sure there is. Beetee and I have been following the same rule book President Snow used when he hijacked Peeta,” says Gale.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
The race to automate an ever wider range of workplace tasks is creating an army of inside would-be hackers, with cybercriminals hijacking companies’ internal artificial-intelligence agents to steal sensitive business data.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
“Their hijacking of the public square is made possible by the original sin that animates their AI products — a brazen theft of intellectual property that has occurred at an unprecedented scale,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026
AI companies' "hijacking of the public square is made possible by the original sin that animates their A.I. products -- a brazen theft of intellectual property that has occurred at an unprecedented scale," said A.G.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
Neither the Somali authorities nor the European Naval Force, which oversees anti-piracy operations in Somali waters, has release a statement on the hijacking.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
“My ambitions extend far beyond hijacking a single preserve. I am part of a movement with much broader objectives.”
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
