Synonyms of hijacking

hijacking 1 of 2

noun

variants also highjacking

as in kidnapping

the unlawful or forcible carrying away of a person or animal

a country in which hijackings of foreign executives has become commonplace

Synonyms & Similar Words

• kidnapping
• abduction
• rape
• snatch
• seizure
• impressment
• shanghaiing

hijacking

2 of 2

verb

variants also highjacking

present participle of hijack

as in commandeering

to take control of (a vehicle) by force

some loser tried to hijack the plane with a toy gun

Synonyms & Similar Words

• commandeering
• seizing
• confiscating
• carjacking
• skyjacking
• appropriating
• expropriating

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of hijacking

Noun

The harrowing but ultimately hopeful story of the FlyDubai airline hijacking incident last month is being developed as a narrative film by Dori Media Group and India’s Sphereorigin. — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026

Direct flights between the two countries were suspended in 1985 by the Reagan administration after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. — ABC News, 11 Oct. 2026

Police are asking the public for help identifying a man believed to be a suspect in a motorcycle hijacking. — Dan Raby, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026

An official confirmed that Israel had scrambled warplanes, fearing a hijacking. — Arkansas Online, 1 Oct. 2026

Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, said he had been briefed by Netanyahu on Tuesday night but that Netanyahu did not mention anything or even hint at a potential hijacking plot. — Gerry Shih, Washington Post, 1 Oct. 2026

The aircraft issued a general distress call before switching to a code signaling a hijacking. — Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 1 Oct. 2026

Security training Current TSA regulations require recurrent security training for flight crew and cabin crew members, which includes self-defense training and exercises on how to handle a hijacking. — Jeff Price, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026

And a clash in the cockpit of a plane flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv this morning prompted Israel and Saudi Arabia to scramble fighter jets in fear of a hijacking. — New York Times, 30 Sep. 2026

Verb

Even the risk of hijacking raw computing power on chips is not new. — Peter Hall, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2026

These viruses, known as retroviruses, insert a DNA copy of their RNA sequence into the host cell’s genome, hijacking the cell’s resources to reproduce themselves. — Jake Buehler, Quanta Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026

Over the weekend, ShinyHunters boasted about hijacking and defacing CLOP’s site on the dark web with an image of a Pokémon. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 21 Sep. 2026

It's been 25 years since al-Qaida terrorists attacked the United States by hijacking four commercial airplanes and crashing them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. — September 9, NPR, 9 Sep. 2026

But since they’re still required by the rules to play all 27 outs, the Phillies just keep hijacking these Weird and Wild columns. — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Which in a very real sense signals long-time Fed efforts to expand its own purpose by hijacking inflation. — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026

The longtime Adult Swim mischief-maker behind the viral hits ‘Too Many Cooks’ and ‘Yule Log’ specializes in hijacking familiar media formats, revealing the sinister anxieties beneath them. — Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026

Visible signs of body-hijacking mental illness drive Ingrid to a grisly suicide in the bathroom that her daughter is forced to witness. — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 19 Aug. 2026