1
as in to plunder
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
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2
as in to search
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
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of ransack
The suspects ransacked the house, stole the woman’s cell phone and watch, and drove off in an older model white pick-up truck with a DTE sign on its side, authorities said.
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Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 18 Oct. 2024
Brazil’s quest to bring to justice those involved in the uprising has so far entailed more than two dozen phases, and hundreds of arrests targeting those who ransacked government buildings, and incited or financed the episode.
—Eléonore Hughes and David Biller, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Investigators say the woman’s house was ransacked and that Hernandez-Hernandez’s fingerprints were identified from the wooden box which contained the coins.
—Scott McDonald, Fox News, 3 Oct. 2024
No one in Hollywood has forgotten the images of the U.S. Capitol being ransacked and pillaged on Jan. 6, 2021, following Trump’s loss to Biden.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ransack 
Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 18 Oct. 2024
Brazil’s quest to bring to justice those involved in the uprising has so far entailed more than two dozen phases, and hundreds of arrests targeting those who ransacked government buildings, and incited or financed the episode.
—Eléonore Hughes and David Biller, Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2024
Investigators say the woman’s house was ransacked and that Hernandez-Hernandez’s fingerprints were identified from the wooden box which contained the coins.
—Scott McDonald, Fox News, 3 Oct. 2024
No one in Hollywood has forgotten the images of the U.S. Capitol being ransacked and pillaged on Jan. 6, 2021, following Trump’s loss to Biden.
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 6 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ransack
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ransack
Verb
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A week after Helene smashed into the Southeast, power outages, water shortages and impassable roads stymie recovery Tropical systems, of course, can plunder coastlines.Sharif Paget, CNN, 3 Oct. 2024
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And neither Coppola nor Snyder deals with how ideologues have plundered the West.Armond White, National Review, 9 Oct. 2024
Verb
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The city had long been searching for someone to develop part of downtown Jackson, and when two men showed up expressing their interest in late February, City Council member Virgi Lindsay agreed to meet with them at an upscale steakhouse in a nearby suburb.Bracey Harris, NBC News, 14 Nov. 2024
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When Loera went down, Montoya searched for new answers in the midfield and found a trio that worked in Tess Boade, Kiki Pickett and Dorian Bailey, none of whom had a wealth of experience in a midfield role.Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Big as the performance is, Stiller isn’t alone: Writer-director-star Eric Schaeffer also pillages shamelessly from the Sundance playbook of whimsy, giving himself the lion’s share of irony-laden pickup lines and depressive witticisms about the pointlessness of romance.Sean Malin, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2024
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In the film, Diop, who is French and of Senegalese descent, follows the 2021 repatriation of 26 artifacts from the Musée du quai Branly back to their place of origin, Dahomey, once a kingdom in the modern-day West African nation of Benin, which France had pillaged in the 1890s.Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 8 Oct. 2024
Verb
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But with the Trumps, Musk also may have found a sense of family that has eluded him in certain ways.Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 7 Nov. 2024
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The researchers found that replacing any less active behavior with five minutes of exercise could lower systolic blood pressure by 0.68 points and diastolic blood pressure by 0.54 points.Linda Carroll, NBC News, 7 Nov. 2024
Verb
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The Rams sacked him seven times in their overtime win last Sunday.Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 16 Nov. 2024
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The Titans’ best chance to score was snuffed out near the end of the first half when Mountain View’s Kaitlyn Liddle roared in to sack sophomore quarterback Kelsey Peterson.Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post, 2 Nov. 2024
Verb
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Recent decades have seen the repatriation of Khmer artifacts from abroad, some of which were looted in the 1970s during the period of violence and instability under the communist Khmer Rouge regime, per the Associated Press.Margherita Bassi, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Nov. 2024
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Since 2022, the detainees are believed to have looted millions of euros and run up a similar amount in property damage, from 2022 to 2024, Europol said.Sophie Tanno, CNN, 27 Oct. 2024
Verb
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The world is a stakeholder, not a bystander, and cannot remain silent as Brazil despoils this indispensable carbon sink, irreplaceable oxygen source, and precious repository of plant and animal life.Stewart Patrick, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
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Meanwhile, human activity has imperiled biodiversity as people despoil lands and waters, introduce invasive species, and harvest natural resources unsustainably.Stewart Patrick, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
Verb
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And in what many consider the final blow to her mayoral career, Thao’s home was raided by FBI agents in July.Kimmy Yam, NBC News, 13 Nov. 2024
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Kamal Adwan Hospital was raided by Israeli forces last month over allegations, denied by Palestinian officials, that militants were sheltering there.Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near ransack
Cite this Entry
“Ransack.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransack. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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