as in to kidnap
to carry away (as a person) forcibly or unlawfully
the gangsters planned to abduct the industrialist's young daughter and demand a huge ransom from her family
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Recent Examples of abduct
Various Gemstones got abducted and placed in mortal peril three times over the series’s run, including in season four, when Eli and Baby Billy are held hostage by Lori’s ex-husband, Cobb (Michael Rooker), and threatened with rape.
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 May 2025
The Palestinian territory has been devastated by more than 18 months of warfare, which began after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 253 others abducted as hostages.
—Jordana Miller, ABC News, 5 May 2025
The families pointed to polling from Israel that shows nearly 70% of Israelis favor ending military operations against Hamas in order to return all the hostages more than 573 days since they were abducted, including some 48% of Netanyahu’s coalition base.
—Caitlin McFall, FOXNews.com, 1 May 2025
Highsmith, who was 21 months old when she was abducted, grew up believing her name was Melanie and the woman raising her was her mother.
—Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for abduct
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 May 2025
The Palestinian territory has been devastated by more than 18 months of warfare, which began after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people and saw 253 others abducted as hostages.
—Jordana Miller, ABC News, 5 May 2025
The families pointed to polling from Israel that shows nearly 70% of Israelis favor ending military operations against Hamas in order to return all the hostages more than 573 days since they were abducted, including some 48% of Netanyahu’s coalition base.
—Caitlin McFall, FOXNews.com, 1 May 2025
Highsmith, who was 21 months old when she was abducted, grew up believing her name was Melanie and the woman raising her was her mother.
—Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for abduct
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abduct
kidnap
Verb
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The film’s synopsis describes a harrowing premise: During the 1978 World Cup soccer final, amid Argentina’s military dictatorship, a group of torturers violently breaks into a home and kidnaps young people to take them to a clandestine detention center.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
18 May 2025
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In the end, the majority of the 16 U.S. missionaries and one Canadian national who were kidnapped in October 2021 and held for ransom for two months by Haiti’s notorious 400 Mawozo gang were freed only after a $350,000 ransom was paid.—
Shirsho Dasgupta,
Miami Herald,
16 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Abduct.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abduct. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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