skyjack

[skahy-jak]

verb (used with object)

1. to hijack (an airliner), especially in order to hold the passengers and plane for ransom or for political reasons.

skyjack

/ ˈskaɪˌdʒæk /

verb

1. (tr) to commandeer (an aircraft), usually at gunpoint during flight, forcing the pilot to fly somewhere other than to the scheduled destination

Other Word Forms

• skyjacker noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of skyjack¹

First recorded in 1965–70; sky + (hi)jack

Word History and Origins

Origin of skyjack¹

C20: from _sky + _hijack

Example Sentences

Other senior officials opted to leave, including the bureau’s top fraud expert, cryptanalyst and skyjacking expert, and the head of its Crime Information Center.

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It is the only unsolved skyjacking in American history.

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The country has faced condemnation over violent crackdowns by authorities around the disputed 2020 election and the subsequent skyjacking of an opposition journalist.

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Yes, she did, because while Himmelsbach was a landmark in the only unsolved skyjacking in American history, that case was just a footnote in Himmelsbach’s story.

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The skyjacking of a dissident journalist over Belarus on Sunday was a brutal action with a simple message to opponents of dictatorial President Alexander Lukashenko: We can get you anywhere.

Read more on Washington Post

Related Words

• capture 
• hijack 
• seize 
• snatch 
• steal