This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. Learn more

Another word for ransack

a-z
Verb

  1. To make a thorough search of

      1. To straighten and separate (wool or other fibers) using a comb.
      2. To clean, straighten out, or arrange with a comb
      3. To move a comb through (the hair) so as to arrange or groom:
      1. To get or take food or provisions from
      2. To collect forage from; strip of food or supplies:
      3. To wander in search of food or provisions.
      1. (Intransitive) To hastily search for something in a confined space and among many items by carelessly turning things over or pushing things aside.
      2. To search something thoroughly and with disregard for the way in which things were arranged.
      3. (Nautical) To search a vessel for smuggled goods.
      1. To clean (wheat)
      2. To remove dirt and grease from (wool, etc.)
      3. To clean (wheat) before the milling process.
      1. To search exhaustively.
      2. To cause something to fall by shaking it, or something it is attached down.
      3. (By extension) To get money from someone using threats.
    Idioms:
    See also:

    investigate

  2. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war

      1. To engage in plundering.
      2. To ransack; plunder.
      1. To deprive of something of value by or as by force; rob; plunder
      2. To ruin, especially by destroying or removing what is valuable:
      3. To deprive of something valuable, especially by force; rob:
      1. To destroy or pillage.
      2. (Obs.) To lay waste; devastate
      1. To take by force or without right; steal:
      2. To take goods from (a place) by force or without right, especially in time of war or lawlessness; plunder:
      3. To plunder; strip of valuables; despoil
      1. To deprive of money or property by violence; loot
      2. To take spoils by force.
      3. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder.
      1. To seize wrongfully or by force; steal:
      2. To take (property) by force or fraud
      3. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; pillage:
      1. To seize and carry off by force.
      2. To use force or threat of force to compel another person to submit to sexual intercourse or other sexual penetration.
      3. To plunder or pillage.
      1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate:
      2. To destroy violently; ruin
      3. To pillage; sack:
      1. (Slang) To discharge from employment:
      2. To rob (a town, for example) of goods or valuables, especially after capture.
      3. (Football) To tackle (a quarterback attempting to pass the ball) behind the line of scrimmage.
      1. To rob, plunder, or despoil
      1. To damage or break the threads of (a screw, for example) or the teeth of (a gear).
      2. To cut or tear into strips
      3. To remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, for example).
      1. (Archaic) To rob, plunder, or pillage
      2. To break up and level (soil or land) with a harrow.
      3. To draw a harrow over (land)
      1. (Archaic) To strip (a person) of goods, money, etc. by force
      2. To rob; pillage; plunder
      3. (Archaic) To pillage; plunder
    See also:

    crimes

    give

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for ransack

Verb

  1. To search thoroughly

    See also:

    hunt

    search

  2. To loot

      1. To deprive of money or property by violence; loot
      2. To take spoils by force.
      3. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; plunder.
      1. To seize wrongfully or by force; steal:
      2. To take (property) by force or fraud
      3. To rob of goods by force, especially in time of war; pillage:
      1. To damage or break the threads of (a screw, for example) or the teeth of (a gear).
      2. To take apart (a firearm, etc.) piece by piece, as for cleaning; dismantle
      3. To remove the leaves from the stalks of (tobacco, for example).
      1. To ruin, especially by destroying or removing what is valuable:
      2. To deprive of something of value by or as by force; rob; plunder
      3. To deprive of something valuable, especially by force; rob:
      1. To search (an area or container, for example) thoroughly, especially using the hands with the intent to steal or remove something:
      2. To cut spiral grooves within (a gun barrel, for example).
      3. To cut spiral grooves on the inside of (a gun barrel, etc.)
      1. To search for what one needs or wants
      2. (--- Now Rare) To ravage; plunder
      3. To collect forage from; strip of food or supplies:
      1. To rove in search of plunder; make raids
      2. To rove and raid in search of plunder.
      3. To raid; plunder; pillage
      1. To make a raid or raids (on)
      2. To conduct a raid or participate in one.
      1. (Slang) To discharge from employment:
      2. To rob (a town, for example) of goods or valuables, especially after capture.
      3. (Football) To tackle (a quarterback attempting to pass the ball) behind the line of scrimmage.
      1. To commit burglary in or upon
      2. To commit burglary in (a building or other premises).
      3. To commit burglary against (someone):
      1. To burglarize.
      2. (Informal) To burglarize or commit burglary
      1. (Archaic) To pillage; plunder
      2. (Archaic) To strip (a person) of goods, money, etc. by force
      3. To rob; pillage; plunder
      1. To become soggy or full of holes when trampled; turn into mud
      2. To cook (fish, an egg without its shell, etc.) in water or other liquid near boiling point, or in a small receptacle placed over boiling water
      3. (Racket Sports) To return a shot near the net that was intended for one's partner in the back court
      1. To reduce or destroy the effectiveness of:
      2. To extract essential or major parts of:
      3. To destroy the interior of:
      1. (Informal) To work or proceed with, or move, bring, or get by, energetic or vigorous action
      2. To move with soft fluttering or crackling sounds:
      3. To move or act energetically or while making such sounds:
      1. (Intransitive): To commit theft.
      2. To commit, or get by, theft
      3. To take (something) by theft or commit theft.
      1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate:
      2. To destroy violently; ruin
      3. To pillage; sack:
      1. To steal or filch.
      2. To steal (a small amount or item).
      1. To deprive unjustly of something belonging to, desired by, or legally due (someone):
      2. (--- Law) To take property from (a person) illegally by using or threatening to use violence or force; commit robbery upon.
      3. To plunder or rifle
    See also:

    raid

    rob

    steal

© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • They'll ransack that castle, he remarked with evident approval.

  • I guess he thinks I'm going to ransack his wallet or something.

  • Xander was wearing the necklace, or she'd retreat to the apartment and ransack it on her way out.

  • You gave your low-life friends my name and address so they could ransack my house and maybe kill someone who got in their way?

  • No doubt large numbers are devoured by insectivorous birds, mammals and reptiles, but the mortality due to them and other foes sinks into insignificance beside that caused by the persecution of hymenopterous insects of the families Ichneumonidae and Pompilidae, especially of the latter, many species of which systematically ransack the country for spiders wherewith to feed their young in the breeding season.

More sentences →

Words that mention ransack in the Dictionary

Words near ransack in the Thesaurus