How does the verb ransom contrast with its synonyms?
Some common synonyms of ransom are deliver, reclaim, redeem, rescue, and save. While all these words mean "to set free from confinement or danger," ransom specifically applies to buying out of captivity.
tried to ransom the kidnap victim
When is deliver a more appropriate choice than ransom?
The words deliver and ransom are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, deliver implies release usually of a person from confinement, temptation, slavery, or suffering.
delivered his people from bondage
In what contexts can reclaim take the place of ransom?
The meanings of reclaim and ransom largely overlap; however, reclaim suggests a bringing back to a former state or condition of someone or something abandoned or debased.
reclaimed long-abandoned farms
When is it sensible to use redeem instead of ransom?
The synonyms redeem and ransom are sometimes interchangeable, but redeem implies releasing from bondage or penalties by giving what is demanded or necessary.
job training designed to redeem school dropouts from chronic unemployment
When might rescue be a better fit than ransom?
In some situations, the words rescue and ransom are roughly equivalent. However, rescue implies freeing from imminent danger by prompt or vigorous action.
rescued the crew of a sinking ship
Where would save be a reasonable alternative to ransom?
The words save and ransom can be used in similar contexts, but save may replace any of the foregoing terms; it may further imply a preserving or maintaining for usefulness or continued existence.
an operation that saved my life
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ransom
Verb
Tran’s brother, Kevin, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, as well as kidnapping for ransom and false imprisonment with gun-use enhancements.—Jason Green, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2025 The movie stars Washington as a music mogul who is targeted by a ransom plot that puts him in a morally compromising position.—Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Noun
Such data, depending on the sensitivity, can be held to ransom against a threat of publication to a leak site or sale to the highest criminal bidder.—Davey Winder, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024 They were taken by speedboats to the jungles of the southern Philippine province of Sulu, where they were held in harsh conditions before being mostly ransomed off using millions of dollars reportedly provided by then-Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.—Jim Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 21 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for ransom
Her efforts saved the animal’s life and landed her in her hometown newspaper, The Mountain Eagle, which was the first to write about the dramatic rescue and resuscitation.
—
Michael Collins,
USA Today,
11 Sep. 2025
These annual gifts can also reduce the size of your taxable estate, saving more of your lifetime exemption for future inheritances.
For everyday consumers, this change dramatically expands the ways to earn and redeem AAdvantage miles—not just by flying, but by tapping into credit card spending.
—
Laura Begley Bloom,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
There isn’t much redeeming value in this music, something Táparo is well aware of.
Many members of the Venezuelan opposition, Straka said, have long relished calling out government supporters for treating Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor, as a messiah, but they can be faulted for believing, with similar fervor, that American salvation is coming.
—
Gisela Salim-Peyer,
The Atlantic,
12 Sep. 2025
At the film's center is Ingrid Luna/Aurora/the Spider Woman, the arbiter of Molina's salvation and the bearer of the kiss of death.
—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 Sep. 2025
Fame is perhaps this tower, an ultimate entrapment in the self that is also a deliverance from it.
—
Rachel Cusk,
New Yorker,
24 Aug. 2025
After having little luck finding a traditional TV outlet willing to double ESPN/ABC’s current $90 million/year deal, F1 seems to have found deliverance by way of its theatrical partner.
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