kidnap
Americanverb (used with object)
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kidnaps,
present (3rd person singular)
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kidnapped,
past participle, past
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kidnaped,
past participle, past
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kidnapping,
present participle
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kidnaping
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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kidnapeenoun
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kidnapernoun
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kidnappeenoun
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kidnappernoun
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kidnappingnoun
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unkidnapedadjective
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unkidnappedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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kidnapsimple
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kidnapssimple
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have kidnapedperfect
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have kidnappedperfect
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has kidnapedperfect
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has kidnappedperfect
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am kidnapingprogressive
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am kidnappingprogressive
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are kidnapingprogressive
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are kidnappingprogressive
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is kidnapingprogressive
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is kidnappingprogressive
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have been kidnapingperfect progressive
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have been kidnappingperfect progressive
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has been kidnapingperfect progressive
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has been kidnappingperfect progressive
Past
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kidnapedsimple
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kidnappedsimple
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had kidnapedperfect
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had kidnappedperfect
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was kidnapingprogressive
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was kidnappingprogressive
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were kidnapingprogressive
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were kidnappingprogressive
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had been kidnapingperfect progressive
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had been kidnappingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of kidnap
Explanation
To kidnap is to steal a person, or to hold someone as a prisoner until a ransom is paid. The original meaning of kidnap, dating from the late seventeenth century, was "steal children to provide servants to the American colonies," from kid, "child," and nap, "snatch away." After the particularly notorious Lindberg baby kidnapping in 1932, the U.S. Congress passed a law allowing the FBI to investigate all kidnappings. Today the word kidnap includes all abductions, of both children and adults.
Vocabulary lists containing kidnap
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 21–September 27, 2024
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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:
"I thought they were going to kidnap us. I ran to a taco stand to take cover with the people there," Medina told AFP.
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
At the same time, bald eagles were rumored to sometimes kidnap human babies and fly away with them in their talons.
From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026
When Bin Salman first came to prominence as Saudi defense minister in 2015, he espoused a pugilistic foreign policy that saw him launch the unsuccessful offensive on the Houthis and kidnap Lebanon’s prime minister.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2026
A father reconnects with his former group of revolutionaries following the kidnap of his daughter.
From BBC ● Nov. 27, 2025
“But, Mr. Leroy, there’re slave catchers over in Michigan. How we gonna stop someone from trying to kidnap us?”
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
When a Frenchman kidnaps a woman from the rival town, his mother and her fellow villagers react with outrage and indignation, less at the abduction itself than at his apparent interest in a German woman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
The Ramayana depicts the victory of Hindu god Ram over the demon king Ravana after the latter kidnaps his wife, Sita.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2023
“This case shows that the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to track down anyone who kidnaps a U.S. citizen abroad,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2022
Once, the writers wound up with a plotline in which a gorilla, escaped from the Central Park Zoo, kidnaps one of the female leads and takes her to the top of Belvedere Castle.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2022
Sarah and Jack and the clover elves are just about to celebrate their victory over the troll army when an ogre kidnaps Jack and sweeps him off to the hobgoblin king’s castle.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office identified the remains as that of Sharon Lee Gallegos, who was reported kidnaped on July 21, 1960, thanks to advanced DNA technology.
From Fox News ● Mar. 16, 2022
The multi-state search for her and the five-year search for who reportedly kidnaped her diverted resources from other cases, Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said.
From Fox News ● Mar. 8, 2022
The deal promptly increased pressure on the Administration to negotiate freedom for the kidnaped Americans being held hostage in Lebanon.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Baltimore last week, the twosome said that they had been kidnaped by Kim Jong Il, 45, the son of North Korea's strongman Kim Il Sung, 74.
From Time Magazine Archive
Kit Rhodes never forgot that first picture of their kidnaped guest, for he agreed with Clodomiro who saw in her the living representation of old biblical saints.
From The Treasure Trail A Romance of the Land of Gold and Sunshine by Robert Wesley Amick
Nigeria's security forces have recorded a recent success in rescuing kidnapped victims.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
Special Forces in a dramatic military operation in January, told the judge that he had been kidnapped and was a prisoner of war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
This time around, Enola’s impending wedding is interrupted when she learns Sherlock’s been kidnapped and needs rescuing.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
The most common backstory is that Adora was kidnapped by Hordak as an infant and raised on the planet Etheria as a member of his Evil Horde.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
“Or are you saying those kids used up all the bad luck, so we never have to worry about being kidnapped? Thank you, Other-Finn and Other-Emma and Other-Rochester! Hope you get found soon!”
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Pankey’s attorney, Anthony Viorst, countered that prosecutors’ circumstantial evidence, Pankey’s overbearing personality and his obsession with “true crime” mysteries is not enough to convict him of kidnaping and murder.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2021
The Foleys also said some responsibility lies with American members of the media who failed to continue reporting on Foley's kidnaping, letting it fall out of the news cycle.
From US News ● Feb. 26, 2015
Until the kidnaping, Aquino had ignored the Muslim separatist problem in Mindanao.
From Time Magazine Archive
The treaty states that suspects accused of murder, kidnaping, bombing or voluntary manslaughter can no longer avoid deportation by claiming that their actions were "politically motivated."
From Time Magazine Archive
He had never been quite sure about Major de Coverley, either, who, when he was not away renting apartments or kidnaping foreign laborers, had nothing more pressing to do than pitch horseshoes.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Within days of Rideout's kidnapping, the US warned its citizens against travelling to Niger due to an "increased risk of terrorism, crime and civil unrest".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
David Stivers, was reprimanded two months before Nancy’s kidnapping for “poor judgment,” blamed for delays securing crime-scene evidence in a homicide case, personnel records from a public-records request show.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Authorities said making the documents public is an investigative strategy aimed at generating fresh leads as the high-profile kidnapping case reaches the six-month mark.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
US television star journalist Savannah Guthrie made an emotional appeal Saturday for anyone with information about her mother's disappearance to come forward, saying "we are begging for help" six months after the kidnapping took place.
From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026
“Do you remember the affair of the Armstrong kidnapping, Mrs. Hubbard?” he asked.
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
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.
