1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

ransoming

verb

present participle of ransom
as in saving
to free from captivity or punishment by paying a price the prince emptied the treasury to ransom his son from the kidnappers

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of ransoming Abu Sayyaf was particularly notorious for kidnapping and ransoming foreigners. — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 17 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ransoming
  1. saving
  2. rescuing
Verb
  • Oblivious to her own biases about who Leo is and why, Mallory poses as a therapist keen on saving his life, but uses their faux sessions to mine his story for literary gold.
    — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • But Kubiak kept him out of the preseason, saving his first real game action since surgery until the season opener.
    — Sam Warren, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of saving
Verb
  • There's a picture of a firefighter rescuing a man out of the rubble, a picture of a stockbroker covered in ash.
    — Mike Kelly, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Technical problems prevented Katalyst from rescuing NASA’s aging Swift observatory.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of rescuing

Browse Nearby Words

ransomers
ransoming
ransoms
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Ransoming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransoming. Accessed 18 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of churlish

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
funny guinea pig in glasses reading a book
Challenging Words You Should Know Vol 2 Words to the wise
See All