as in to abduct
to carry away (as a person) forcibly or unlawfully
the child of the wealthy industrialist was kidnapped and held for ransom
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Recent Examples of kidnap
One night, Mitchell left their campsite dressed in dark clothes and with a knife in hand to kidnap the young girl.
—
Lynsey Eidell, People.com, 8 June 2025
At the White House, Ivanka Trump asks Chuan Pu to pose as her father at a rally in Pennsylvania because Trump has been kidnapped by aliens from Mars.
—Peter Guo, NBC news, 8 June 2025
The film’s most frightening scene is a fight between Claire and her mom, when the manipulative young woman tries every tactic imaginable to extort money from Kate, from tearing out her hair to kidnapping Cooper.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 7 June 2025
Gabriel Byrne shows up as a nasty villain known as the Chancellor, who has kidnaped the adorable moppet Ella (Ava Joyce McCarthy) and whisked her off to a bucolic Alpine village where a society of ruthless killers are able to raise, and train, their children in peace.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for kidnap
Lynsey Eidell, People.com, 8 June 2025
At the White House, Ivanka Trump asks Chuan Pu to pose as her father at a rally in Pennsylvania because Trump has been kidnapped by aliens from Mars.
—Peter Guo, NBC news, 8 June 2025
The film’s most frightening scene is a fight between Claire and her mom, when the manipulative young woman tries every tactic imaginable to extort money from Kate, from tearing out her hair to kidnapping Cooper.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 7 June 2025
Gabriel Byrne shows up as a nasty villain known as the Chancellor, who has kidnaped the adorable moppet Ella (Ava Joyce McCarthy) and whisked her off to a bucolic Alpine village where a society of ruthless killers are able to raise, and train, their children in peace.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for kidnap
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kidnap
abduct
Verb
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As a longtime volunteer with Southwest Search Dogs, Swain trained her dogs, Spencer, a black Labrador retriever, and Rita, a yellow Labrador retriever, to follow scents up to five miles in efforts to find runaway or abducted children and adults in distress.—
Jan Goldsmith,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 June 2025
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Not being able to abduct grade-schoolers is an affront to his clan’s heritage.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
5 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Kidnap.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kidnap. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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