Word.ws English Dictionary

hold ransom

hold ransom is the alternative form of hold to ransom.

Meaning of hold to ransom

Verb

hold to ransom (third-person singular simple present holds to ransom, present participle holding to ransom, simple past and past participle held to ransom)

  1. (UK, transitive) To hold (someone) hostage until a ransom is paid.
    Synonyms:
    hold hostage

Forms of hold ransom

third-person singular presentholds ransom
present participleholding ransom
past participleheld ransom
pastheld ransom

Questions about hold ransom

What is hold ransom the alternative form of?
Hold ransom is the alternative form of hold to ransom.

Words near hold ransom in the dictionary

  1. hold onto your hat
  2. hold out
  3. hold outs
  4. hold over
  5. hold over someone's head
  6. hold ransom
  7. hold serve
  8. hold short
  9. hold someone's feet to the fire
  10. hold someone's hand
  11. hold space

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hold ransom (page history and authors); hold to ransom (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hold ransom.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hold_ransom. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.