Word.ws English Dictionary

kidnapping

/ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/

kidnapping is the present participle and gerund of kidnap.

Meaning of kidnap

Verb

kidnap (third-person singular simple present kidnaps, present participle kidnapping or (rare, US only) kidnaping, simple past and past participle kidnapped or (rare, US only) kidnaped)

  1. (transitive) To seize or detain a person unlawfully and move or conceal them; sometimes for ransom.
    • Hello, ladies! How’s the Big Apple?
      Rotten, Jerry! Clover's been kidnapped!
      Oh, dear! That's the second time this month!2002 September 6, Michelle and Robert Lamoreaux, “Model Citizens”, in Totally Spies!, season 1, episode 9, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Jess Harnell as Jerry and Katie Leigh), Marathon Media, via...
    Synonyms:
    informal, snatch

See all 2 meanings of kidnap

Noun

kidnapping (countable and uncountable, plural kidnappings)

  1. (crime) The crime of taking a person against their will, sometimes for ransom.
    • The Kiryat Malachi native, who had been working as a bartender in Tel Aviv before his kidnapping, was last seen trying to hide next to a car as a terrorist fired a rocket-propelled grenade at him and a friend.2025 March 7, ToI staff, JTA, “The next 24: These are the remaining hostages presumed alive in Gaza”, in The Times of Israel, archived from the original on 03 Aug 2025

Forms of kidnapping

Verb
alternative US uncommonkidnaping
Noun
pluralkidnappings

Words formed from kidnapping

Questions about kidnapping

What does kidnapping mean?
Kidnapping means the crime of taking a person against their will, sometimes for ransom.
What is kidnapping the present participle and gerund of?
Kidnapping is the present participle and gerund of kidnap.
What part of speech is kidnapping?
Kidnapping is a noun.
How do you pronounce kidnapping?
Kidnapping is pronounced /ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/.
What is the plural of kidnapping?
The plural of kidnapping is kidnappings.

Words near kidnapping in the dictionary

  1. kidnapped robot problems
  2. kidnappee
  3. kidnappees
  4. kidnapper
  5. kidnappers
  6. kidnapping
  7. kidnappings
  8. kidnaps
  9. Kidner
  10. Kidners
  11. kidney

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kidnapping (page history and authors); kidnap (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-kidnapping.wav.

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