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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Vikings, for example, used the extra daylight to sneak in a longer pillage sesh.—
Corey Buhay,
Outside Online,
19 June 2025
-
Otherwise, illicit actors will continue to profit from their pillage.—
Justyna Gudzowska,
Foreign Affairs,
2 June 2025
Noun
-
Reparations, long proposed as the only measure proportionate to the scale of racial plunder, look increasingly like a political, economic, and legal non-starter.—
Idrees Kahloon,
New Yorker,
28 July 2025
-
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
Noun
-
During deliberations, the jury focused almost entirely on the spoliation issue.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
-
The spoliation inference becomes a presumption of guilt that's incredibly challenging to overcome.—
Lars Daniel,
Forbes.com,
22 July 2025
Noun
-
Like the elf owl, the Socorro dove suffered heavily from cat predation and habitat loss.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
5 July 2025
-
The birds face other challenges, including habitat loss and predation by invasive creatures like rats.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
16 June 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Ransacking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransacking. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share