as in fortune
a very large amount of money
that enormous diamond ring must have cost a king's ransom
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Recent Examples of king's ransom
Obviously, the cost to acquire Banks would have paled in comparison to the king's ransom Indianapolis paid for Gardner.
—
Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Nov. 2025
The king's ransom paid Apple for Google search priority has been called into question due to the government's antitrust case against Alphabet .
—Zev Fima, CNBC, 1 Aug. 2025
Williams is such a talented prospect that experts are saying the Bears should not trade the first overall pick for a king's ransom.
—Jon Hoefling, USA TODAY, 5 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for king's ransom
Noun
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Layered in butter, cream, garlic, Parmesan and green spinach that some versions of its origin story say represents the man’s vast fortune, it was first conceived in New Orleans’ Antoine’s Restaurant in 1899, where a shortage of escargot necessitated some creative moves from chef Jules Alciatore.—
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Hochul should use her improving political fortune and growing public disdain for the president’s regressive stances to break away from Trumpian energy policies and restore New York’s clean energy leadership in the new year.—
Noun
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Comcast had wanted to tier the network to a more expensive sports bundle, forcing people who watched Yankees games to pay more, but YES argued Comcast doesn’t tier Mets’ network SNY because Comcast is a minority owner of SNY.—
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The incredible shrinking bundle has posed an existential threat to the RSNs long before Diamond filed for bankruptcy in March 2023.—
Noun
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Reviewers of all hair types seem to swear by the rosemary mint formula.—
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With mint, detach three-inch terminal pieces and, in the case of lemongrass, entire stalks may be used, whether store bought or procured from a friend’s garden.—
Noun
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During the day, the birds lie motionless on the ground, blending into piles of leaves and tree stumps to hide from predators.—
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Each pepper is topped with a heaping pile of fontina cheese.—
Noun
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When Russian aircraft carrier bombs thwart their plans to seek a more undisturbed area, Russian soldiers start to seek out their bunker.—
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Rather, many Iranians instead blamed the leadership for either provoking the conflict or failing to meaningfully defend the country from Israeli – or American – bombs.—
Cite this Entry
“King's ransom.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/king%27s%20ransom. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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