ransack

ransack Definition

ran·sack (ran′sak′)

transitive verb

Etymology: ME ransaken < ON rannsaka < rann, house (akin to OE ærn, Goth razn < IE base *(e)re-, to rest) + -saka < sœkja, to seek

ransack Related Forms

ran′·sack′er noun

ransack Synonyms

To search thoroughly
rummage, scour, comb, rake, explore, turn upside down, turn inside out, look all over, look high and low, leave no stone unturned, seek everywhere, ferret out, nose out, hunt out, overhaul, sound, spy, peer, look around, pry, scan, probe, look into, investigate, scrutinize; see also hunt 2, search.
To loot
pillage, plunder, strip, despoil, rifle, forage, maraud, raid, sack, burglarize, burgle, spoil, poach, gut, rustle, thieve, ravage, lay waste, pilfer, rob; see also raid, rob, steal.

ransack Usage Examples

Object

house: I ransack the entire house from top to bottom.
office: I guess i'll have to ransack the office 's cookie jar again.
town: Edward was furious and exacted his revenge by ransacking the town of Berwick in 1296 and killing everyone he found.
city: When it looked as if his troops were going to ransack the city of York and its Minster, Fairfax managed to stop them.
room: In about 1550, King Edward VI's commissioners ransacked the room.
place: I was fortunate to arrive at their flat only minutes after the police had left and ransacked the place.

Subject

looter: The hotel where the UNSCOM and UNMOVIC inspectors had lived had been ransacked by looters.
mob: During the Protestant revolt, 1568 - 1648, churches throughout Flanders had been ransacked by iconoclastic mobs.

Preposition: by

looter: The hotel where the UNSCOM and UNMOVIC inspectors had lived had been ransacked by looters.
mob: During the Protestant revolt, 1568 - 1648, churches throughout Flanders had been ransacked by iconoclastic mobs.

Modifying Another Word

then: They demanded money, drugs and made threats to kill. They then ransacked the house before making off in a car.
not: There is not a hole or corner of the land that we have not ransacked.
just: Had just ransacked the Llandoger Trow up the road to no avail when I got a text from Alec about relocating up the road.

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