variants
also highjacks
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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Recent Examples of hijacks
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
After all, if an attacker hijacks the agent’s credentials or manipulates its input data, the agent could take harmful actions faster and more persistently than any human user.
—Michael Decesare, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
In their new action-comedy movie The Pickup, Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson play armored truck drivers who are reluctantly pulled into a casino heist when a burglar (Keke Palmer) hijacks their vehicle.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 8 Aug. 2025
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
After all, if an attacker hijacks the agent’s credentials or manipulates its input data, the agent could take harmful actions faster and more persistently than any human user.
—Michael Decesare, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
In their new action-comedy movie The Pickup, Eddie Murphy and Pete Davidson play armored truck drivers who are reluctantly pulled into a casino heist when a burglar (Keke Palmer) hijacks their vehicle.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hijacks
Verb
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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
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When the State Department commandeers the West Virginia hotel to house Axis diplomats in the wake of Pearl Harbor, June realizes that nothing will ever be the same again.—
AudioFile Magazine
August 29,
Literary Hub,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Season 2 also seizes on an obvious opportunity.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
21 Jan. 2026
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The team successfully seizes two tons of gold and apprehends the leader of the criminal network.—
Isabella Wandermurem,
Time,
14 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hijacks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hijacks. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
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