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
Relevance
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
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 ransack
After the Second Temple of Jerusalem was ransacked by Antiochus, there was only enough oil in the jar to burn for a single day.
—
Marina Johnson, Louisville Courier Journal, 16 Dec. 2025
Following Prentice's death and burial in his mausoleum, Wicks' mother, Grace (Annie Hamilton), had ransacked the chapel searching for the diamond in her desperation to escape her life of shame and mistreatment at the church, but died in her pursuit of it.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 12 Dec. 2025
An unlikely suspect was taken into custody after a break-in at a Virginia liquor store this week—an intoxicated raccoon that authorities say ransacked the shop and later passed out in a bathroom.
—Liz O'Connell, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
The infamous figure emerges out of hiding to make easy work of the military operation in Hawkins as Demogorgons ransack the base.
—Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ransack
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ransack
Verb
-
French buccaneers spent much of the seventeenth century hiding and plundering along the northwest coast of Hispaniola, eventually realizing more money could be made farming tobacco and sugar.—
-
Lowell plunders an emerald out of a wrecked ship, starts a fistfight with a local ruler, nearly dies when a boa constrictor wraps itself around her neck, and is wounded by an alligator.—
Verb
-
Austin Abrams stars as a scuba diver who, while searching for his father’s (Josh Brolin) body, gets swallowed and must find a way to escape.—
-
Police are combing through a Chicago condo searching for clues in a double murder case that started more than 300 miles away.—
Verb
-
In a landscape of sequels and overly pillaged IP, the Stranger Things finale is finite and close-ended, the credits rolling once and for all.—
-
Certainly, its portrait of a futuristic society dominated by raping, pillaging youth gangs speaking a bizarre Russian-English hybrid slang struck a few different nerves — as did its tale of one teenage sociopath’s questionable reprogramming back into society after a stint in prison.—
Verb
-
Investigators also found eight 9 mm casings fired from a Glock pistol at the scene where Holmes was killed, according to the affidavit.—
-
In doing so, the judge found he could not be involved in the handling of the separate probes related to the civil fraud investigation and the NRA.—
Verb
-
Philly flashbacks There was no shortage of hard feelings (and maybe some sour grapes) when the 49ers lost 31-7 in the NFC Championship Game following the 2022 season when Haason Reddick sacked Purdy and tore the UCL in his right elbow.—
-
Miami punts The Hurricanes once again got past midfield, but Carson Beck was then sacked on back-to-back plays to force a Miami punt.—
Verb
-
For months, mausoleums in the graveyard, some more than a hundred years old, were being looted in the dead of night, police said.—
-
Dozens of people, mostly in Minnesota’s substantial Somali population, have been charged with looting the program by setting up companies that billed the state for supplying food that was never delivered.—
Verb
-
Decades of despoiling water bodies have taken a terrible toll, filling water bodies with fetid algae that blocks sunlight and smothers the native seagrass beds that are a main food source for manatees.—
-
Gaddis was an obscure state employee who was fired from his job last summer after leaking details of a secret plot by the DeSantis administration to despoil nine pristine Florida state parks with golf courses, pickleball courts and resort-style lodges — all to benefit his wealthy friends.—
Verb
-
Prosecutors said that in December 2024, Mexican authorities raided multiple fentanyl production labs across Sinaloa that were allegedly controlled by the father and son and made the world’s largest ever fentanyl seizure, which totaled more than 3,300 pounds of the ultra-potent drug.—
-
The attackers who raided Kasuwan-Daji arrived from the National Park Forest along Kabe district, according to the police, pointing to a usual trend where abandoned expansive forest reserves act as hideouts for armed gangs.—
Cite this Entry
“Ransack.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ransack. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share