kidnap [ kid -nap ] SHOW IPA
/ ˈkɪd næp / PHONETIC RESPELLING
verb (used with object), kid·napped or kid·naped, kid·nap·ping or kid·nap·ing.
to steal, carry off, or abduct by force or fraud, especially for use as a hostage or to extract ransom.
OTHER WORDS FOR kidnap seize , bear off, bear away.
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Origin of kidnap 1675–85;
kid1 +
nap, variant of
nab
OTHER WORDS FROM kidnap kid·nap·pee, kid·nap·ee, noun kid·nap·per, kid·nap·er, noun un·kid·naped, adjective un·kid·napped, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to kidnap capture ,
hijack ,
seize ,
snatch ,
steal ,
coax ,
decoy ,
entice ,
grab ,
impress ,
inveigh ,
lure ,
pirate ,
remove ,
seduce ,
shanghai ,
skyjack ,
waylay ,
bundle off ,
carry away
How to use kidnap in a sentence One story alleges that he kidnap ped a 12-year-old girl for ransom and the judge made him choose between jail or the Spanish Navy.
He served as a go-between during kidnap ping cases and revolutionary negotiations.
In 2006, he received another prison sentence—this one for eight years—for plotting to kidnap the teenage daughter of a Romanian businessman.
They kidnap ped Captain America’s best friend and brainwashed him.
She and her boyfriend, Carl Austin Hall, kidnap ped the boy and demanded ransom from his parents.
He was a Burmese national—resistance fighter, drug smuggler, kidnap per, warlord.
He was referencing the Ohio kidnap per dude [Ariel Castro], abortion, it was just like … “oh god.”
On Tuesday night, notorious Cleveland kidnap per Ariel Castro was found dead, hanging in his cell.
Few people who knew the Cleveland kidnap per have expressed sympathy over his suicide.
The Cleveland kidnap per exhibited several risk factors before he hanged himself.
Mr. Miller pursued the kidnap per and found the girl at Baltimore, and brought a charge of kidnap ping against McCreary.
I made up my mind that if one more person said to me, ‘How did the kidnap per get in?’
Now the reason I connect the kidnap per and the blackmailer is twofold.
What I hope to get at from this note is the identity of the kidnap per.
I know, interrupted Reivers; and he told how he had disposed of the kidnap per.
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British Dictionary definitions for kidnap
verb -naps , -napping or -napped or US -naps , -naping or -naped
(tr) to carry off and hold (a person), usually for ransom
Derived forms of kidnap kidnapper or US kidnaper , noun kidnapping or US kidnaping , noun Word Origin for kidnap C17: kid 1 + obsolete nap to steal; see nab
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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