as in fortune
a very large amount of money
that enormous diamond ring must have cost a king's ransom
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Recent Examples of king's ransom
Obviously, the cost to acquire Banks would have paled in comparison to the king's ransom Indianapolis paid for Gardner.
—
Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Nov. 2025
The king's ransom paid Apple for Google search priority has been called into question due to the government's antitrust case against Alphabet .
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 1 Aug. 2025
Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Nov. 2025
The king's ransom paid Apple for Google search priority has been called into question due to the government's antitrust case against Alphabet .
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 1 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for king's ransom
Noun
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Layered in butter, cream, garlic, Parmesan and green spinach that some versions of its origin story say represents the man’s vast fortune, it was first conceived in New Orleans’ Antoine’s Restaurant in 1899, where a shortage of escargot necessitated some creative moves from chef Jules Alciatore.—
Amy Drew Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
7 Jan. 2026
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Hochul should use her improving political fortune and growing public disdain for the president’s regressive stances to break away from Trumpian energy policies and restore New York’s clean energy leadership in the new year.—
Anshul Gupta,
New York Daily News,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Comcast had wanted to tier the network to a more expensive sports bundle, forcing people who watched Yankees games to pay more, but YES argued Comcast doesn’t tier Mets’ network SNY because Comcast is a minority owner of SNY.—
Alex Sherman,Contessa Brewer,
CNBC,
9 Jan. 2026
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The incredible shrinking bundle has posed an existential threat to the RSNs long before Diamond filed for bankruptcy in March 2023.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Reviewers of all hair types seem to swear by the rosemary mint formula.—
Kyra Surgent,
InStyle,
9 Jan. 2026
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With mint, detach three-inch terminal pieces and, in the case of lemongrass, entire stalks may be used, whether store bought or procured from a friend’s garden.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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During the day, the birds lie motionless on the ground, blending into piles of leaves and tree stumps to hide from predators.—
Marina Watts,
PEOPLE,
9 Jan. 2026
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Each pepper is topped with a heaping pile of fontina cheese.—
Riley Wofford,
Martha Stewart,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Even fewer want American bombs dropping all over the globe, leaving a mess that will cost billions of taxpayer dollars to fix while oil executives get invited to meetings at the White House to split up the spoils.—
Jay Caspian Kang,
New Yorker,
13 Jan. 2026
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About 20 Air Force combat planes, including F-15Es, A-10s and AC-130J gunships, as well as MQ-9 Reaper drones and Jordanian F-16 fighter jets, fired more than 90 bombs and missiles toward at least 35 targets Saturday, according to Capt.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
11 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“King's ransom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/king%27s%20ransom. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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