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
Relevance
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
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in plundering
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ransacking
Verb
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Deputies started searching the area and soon spotted a set of footprints in the snow that led away from the road.—
Mitchell Willetts,
Kansas City Star,
5 Jan. 2025 -
Federal investigators later found bomb-making materials while searching Jabbar's Texas home.—
Cara Tabachnick,
CBS News,
4 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Dallas sacking Washington’s quarterbacks six times — Daniels four times — on Sunday upped the Commanders’ allowed sacks total to 22 over the last five games.—
Ben Standig,
The Athletic,
5 Jan. 2025
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Dallas sacking Washington’s quarterbacks six times — Daniels four times — on Sunday upped the Commanders’ allowed sacks total to 22 over the last five games.—
Ben Standig,
The Athletic,
5 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Vikings, for example, used the extra daylight to sneak in a longer pillage sesh.—
Corey Buhay,
Outside Online,
19 June 2025
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Otherwise, illicit actors will continue to profit from their pillage.—
Justyna Gudzowska,
Foreign Affairs,
2 June 2025
Noun
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California was also a land of plunder, a place where rampant capitalism had merged with unrealistic fantasy.—
Andrew Moore,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
-
At the Jeu de Paume museum, Valland took many risks to safeguard its treasures and record the massive plunder of artwork across France.—
Pat Tompkins,
AFAR Media,
18 June 2025
Noun
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The spoliation inference becomes a presumption of guilt that's incredibly challenging to overcome.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
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Last Friday, Damien Marshall and other King & Spalding attorneys on behalf of MSG filed a memorandum of law in opposition to Oakley’s motion for what are known as spoliation sanctions, meaning a punishment for failure to preserve relevant evidence.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
14 May 2025
Noun
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The Socorro dove and the Socorro elf owl became extinct in the wild due to predation and habitat loss, while other species like Townsend’s shearwater were pushed to the brink.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
6 July 2025
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There is a vast tide of Imperial functionaries, from soldiers to bureaucrats to technicians, all conforming to survive the predations of the Emperor’s whims.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
23 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Ransacking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransacking. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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