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commandeered

verb

past tense of commandeer
1
as in hijacked
to take control of (a vehicle) by force an airliner commandeered by terrorists

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in seized
to take or make use of under a guise of authority but without actual right commandeered all of the equipment, as if the chem lab belonged solely to him

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 commandeered Curious Londoners stopped to figure out why a marching band, a blue bird and a few hundred Americans had suddenly commandeered a stretch of Oxford Street. — Taylor Eldridge, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026 Inside the farmhouse, the kitchen speaker has been entirely commandeered by cast members Earl Cave and Conrad Khan. — Riann Phillip, Vogue, 18 Sep. 2026 The Jackson campaign had commandeered the green room Bottoms and her aides were supposed to use for the event. — Adam Beam, AJC.com, 28 Aug. 2026 John’s little motorbike proves no match for the large truck commandeered by the T-1000, which blasts through a cinder block wall at one point. — ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026 This data could be leveraged for surveillance or intelligence, and robots could be remotely commandeered. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026 The Loa River was commandeered in its entirety, source to mouth. — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026 The event was so popular that the crowd spilled into the place next door, and in a restaurant called Amber, the sound system was commandeered. — Simon Hughes, New York Times, 24 June 2026 The concept is based upon unfussy Italian cooking with local ingredients, commandeered by a chef whose background is in looking after Italy’s most prestigious families, rather than restaurants. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commandeered
  1. hijacked
  2. seized
  3. confiscated
  4. converted
  5. usurped
  6. grabbed
  7. occupied
  8. stole
Verb
  • Perhaps the biggest was that an HBO Max Reddit account was hijacked and began directing users to an app that was actually infostealer malware in disguise.
    — Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 18 Sep. 2026
  • That debate accelerated in early September after Reuters reported that OpenAI’s agents hijacked a dormant German wiki site this spring.
    — Harshita Mary Varghese, USA Today, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of hijacked
Verb
  • Democrats have seized upon AI safety to boost their chances of retaking congressional control in the midterms.
    — Lia Russell, Sacbee.com, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Since returning to office in 2025, POTUS seized control of the press pool from the White House Correspondents’ Association.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of seized
Verb
  • The following day, all three outlets reported that their journalists had been denied access to the White House grounds, with MS NOW and Politico claiming press passes had been confiscated.
    — Adam England, PEOPLE, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Soon after, Politico said its White House reporter Cheyenne Haslett was also denied entry and had her badge confiscated.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of confiscated
Verb
  • Then, Thorns forward Caiya Hanks drew a foul on Oihane Hernández in the 27th minute, and Wilson converted the penalty kick to double the lead.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • The Huskies scored on all four trips into the red zone and converted 8 of 14 opportunities on 3rd down after going just 3 of 11 against the Terrapins with no red zone trips last week.
    — Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of converted
Verb
  • Jason Speaking of football-loving families, the Kelces seem to have usurped the Mannings for the sport’s first family.
    — Beth Ann Mayer, Parents, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Howie Roseman acquired Bigsby after Week 1, and Bigsby eventually usurped Shipley as Barkley’s top backup.
    — Zach Berman, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of usurped
Verb
  • Except a woman who knew both of them eventually grabbed Leigh and more or less threw her into Beck.
    — Josephine Reisman, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026
  • Two veteran training officers and new paramedic Cristina DeBiase grabbed their equipment and gurney while another EMT remained with the ambulance and attempted to move it through traffic.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of grabbed
Verb
  • The strikes took place after two soldiers were wounded when their vehicle drove over a Hezbollah explosive device in an area of southern Lebanon occupied by Israeli troops, the military said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Ukraine, for instance, supported efforts to correct distortions about Africa, but objected to the depiction of Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russia.
    — Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of occupied
Verb
  • Thieves stole six bronze sculptures by Peter Gehring valued at over €100,000 ($114,000) from the garden of a museum near Munich.
    — Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 24 Sep. 2026
  • In late August, a 24-year-old man allegedly stole a Cessna 172 from an airport in Hungary while intoxicated and flew toward the area of the country’s only nuclear power plant.
    — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of stole

Browse Nearby Words

commandeer
commandeered
commandeering
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Cite this Entry

“Commandeered.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commandeered. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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