KIDNAPPED Synonyms: 50 Similar and Opposite Words

kidnapped 1 of 2

adjective

variants also kidnaped

as in abducted

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kidnapped

2 of 2

verb

variants also kidnaped

past tense of kidnap

as in captured

to carry away (as a person) forcibly or unlawfully the child of the wealthy industrialist was kidnapped and held for ransom

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 kidnapped

Verb

The toys were not purloined, kidnapped, auctioned by Sotheby's or flipped by greedy collectors on eBay. — Steve Hendrix The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 21 Oct. 2026 According to multiple reports, ransom notes were sent to local media outlets just days after she was kidnapped from her Arizona home. — Allison Degrushe, StyleCaster, 19 Oct. 2026 Earlier this summer, a gang had massacred at least 47 residents and kidnapped dozens more in the town of Kenscoff, on the main southern route out of the capital. — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026 When his father is kidnapped by a paramilitary task force days before the coup, doctor Gustavo Vaca Narvaja returns to his family and decides to risk everything on a desperate escape. — John Hopewell, Variety, 14 Oct. 2026 On June 6th, isis kidnapped two French journalists from Alaaeddin’s van. — Ben Taub, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026 More than 50 others were kidnapped, including women and children. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 10 Oct. 2026 Hairstylist Aldo Signoretti was kidnapped and released for a $300 ransom. — Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2026 Affleck plays a Los Angeles mayoral candidate who is thrown into a tailspin when his son is kidnapped. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 9 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for kidnapped

Adjective

As with the previous hour, which opened with the Russian assassins stalking River and Sid at the bowling alley, this episode picks up at the suspense cliffhanger of these same assassins peeling off with an abducted Sid in their car.

— Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Oct. 2026
An impact campaign will accompany the film’s theatrical release, with partners including the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), Bring Kids Back UA (President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s initiative to return abducted children) and War Child International.

— Matthew Carey, Deadline, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of abducted

Adjective

Jaemor Farms employee Lynn Lewis even has a strategy for those who start to feel trapped.

— Alexa Liacko, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
Numerous investigations have documented how patients can become trapped in a revolving door of treatment, relapse and reenrollment, with each relapse putting them at risk of overdose and death.

— Ilan Shrira, The Conversation, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of trapped

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kidnap

kidnapped

kidnappee

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“Kidnapped.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kidnapped. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of kidnapped

adjective

verb

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