Thesaurus results for HIGHJACKS

hijacks

verb

variants also highjacks

present tense third-person singular of hijack

as in commandeers

to take control of (a vehicle) by force some loser tried to hijack the plane with a toy gun

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of hijacks Tired of living in Cinderella’s shadow, Lilith steals the Fairy Godmother’s (Bette Midler) magic wand and hijacks the Royal Ball with her sister, Margot (Stephanie Hsu). —

Kevin Giraud, Variety, 23 June 2026 The latter hijacks your attention. —

Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 21 June 2026 In the final cut, Mabel accidentally stumbles upon research being done by her biology professor (Kathy Najimy), discovers the technology, and hijacks a robot beaver. —

Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2026 By feeding a stodgy institutional figure like Powell into the AI-meme deluge, the internet hijacks the Federal Reserve’s image and accelerates it past the point of professional control. —

Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 16 Jan. 2026 All that progress rolls backward if males can take spots on both men’s and women’s teams; this torpedoes Title IX and hijacks women’s sports. —

Alanna Smith, New York Daily News, 12 Jan. 2026 Robinson and his team at Stanford Medicine uncovered a particularly sneaky mechanism that EBV possesses, which essentially hijacks the body's defences to switch sides and mount an attack on the immune system. —

New Atlas, 21 Nov. 2025 Investigating viruses means investigating genes—since the way a virus hijacks a cell is by forcing it to replicate the viral genome in place of the host’s. —

Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 7 Nov. 2025 Continue reading … SPEAKER SHOCK – Hacker hijacks airport speakers, blasts anti-Trump and other political messages. —

FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for hijacks

Verb

The service Bjorn commandeers a small team, and often doubles up as bartender, concierge, and sauna turn-oner.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Mar. 2026
In the middle of the stuffy reception, Jenny commandeers the A/V system, blasting punk rock while a squad of models, clad in her early-aughts emo designs, climb on tables.

— Matthew Huff, Vanity Fair, 22 Dec. 2025