Synonyms of ransacking

ransacking 1 of 2

noun

as in plundering

Related Words

• plundering
• looting
• pillaging
• pillage
• plunder
• marauding
• despoiling
• spoliation
• sacking
• depredation
• predation
• sabotage
• wrecking
• despoilment
• destruction
• demolishing
• ravaging
• desecration
• ravage
• trashing
• ruination
• desecrating
• vandalism
• demolishment
• ruin
• defacement
• defacing
• vandalization

Dissimilar Words

• protection
• saving
• preservation
• conservation
• salvage

ransacking

2 of 2

verb

present participle of ransack

1

as in looting

to search through with the intent of committing robbery

it was clear that the thieves who had ransacked the museum were professionals—they bypassed most of the exhibits and went straight for the vaults

Synonyms & Similar Words

• plundering
• looting
• pillaging
• sacking
• raiding
• marauding
• despoiling
• combing
• raking
• stealing (from)
• rummaging
• hunting
• burglarizing
• breaking in
• rifling
• ravishing
• ripping off
• harrying

2

as in searching

to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something

I've ransacked the whole house for that book you lent me and it's nowhere to be found

Synonyms & Similar Words

• searching
• combing
• finding
• scanning
• rummaging
• scouring
• surveying
• raking
• exploring
• examining
• investigating
• locating
• dredging
• trolling
• inspecting
• digging (through)
• hunting (through)
• sorting (through)
• discovering
• rifling
• reviewing
• scrutinizing
• detecting
• ascertaining
• auditing
• determining
• learning
• checking (out)
• probing
• snooping
• frisking
• studying
• tracking (down)
• hitting (on or upon)
• perusing
• finding out
• browsing
• getting
• running down
• poking (around)
• prospecting
• shaking down
• descrying
• ferreting (out)
• looking over
• patting down
• glancing (over)
• skirmishing
• grubbing (about)
• scaring up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• hiding
• losing
• ignoring
• abandoning
• neglecting

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of ransacking

Noun

What Trump has done to the Kennedy Center is nothing less than a full-scale ransacking. — Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2026

In one case, Naqvi apparently tried to pin the ransacking of an apartment on an ex-boyfriend. — Sophie Carson, jsonline.com, 12 Mar. 2026

Christophe Garnier, the leader of Doctors Without Borders in South Sudan said the organization had to evacuate its staff from Akobo on Saturday and learned of the subsequent looting of its hospital and the ransacking of its office. — ABC News, 10 Mar. 2026

But to discover yourself outpaced by a reality that bears an uncanny resemblance to your own fiction seems to be a particularly painful indignity to bear, a kind of spiritual ransacking. — Literary Hub, 18 Dec. 2025

The mere sight of the ransacking seems to quicken his speech. — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025

Two men were arrested in connection with a series of high-end burglaries at the homes of affluent Southern Californians, including the ransacking of superstar Brad Pitt’s house, law enforcement sources said Monday. — Andrew Blankstein, NBC news, 12 Aug. 2025

Verb

Also in 2007, Spencer was sentenced concurrently to seven years in prison for choking a woman, slamming her head to the ground, and robbing her of her cellphone, and for smashing into a woman's car and ransacking it, prosecutors said. — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 25 June 2026

Historical novelists are often charged with disrespect and unseriousness, of ransacking the archives for sensational scenery to hang behind their conventional family sagas and love stories. — Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 1 June 2026

Authorities say burglars have hit multiple homes in rapid succession, ransacking properties and targeting valuables, while other incidents, including a commercial copper wire theft that led to a police chase, highlight what officials describe as increasingly bold and coordinated criminal activity. — Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 23 Apr. 2026

The suspects then began ransacking the home. — Harry Harris, Mercury News, 23 Apr. 2026

Guzman had previously been to court for both allegedly trying to set her father’s house on fire and ransacking a priest’s home — on the same day. — Selina Guevara, NBC news, 19 Apr. 2026

But Dead City fans have responded to cops raiding a concert by setting fires and ransacking a Metro train full of workers trying to get home. — Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2026

Like some ghastly old lag, ransacking the plans of a bank vault! — Literary Hub, 13 Apr. 2026

After busting down his door and ransacking his home, armed officers found neither drugs nor any signs of a kidnapping. — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 19 Mar. 2026