Word.ws English Dictionary

ransom

Syllables: ran·som/ˈɹæn.səm/US/ˈɹænsəm/

ransom noun: money paid for the freeing of a hostage.

Noun

ransom (usually uncountable, plural ransoms)

  1. (usually) Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.
    • They were held for two million dollars ransom.
    • They were held to ransom.
  2. (usually) The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration.
    • prisoners hopeless of ransom
    • Till the fair slave be rendered to her sire; And ransom-free restored to his abodea. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC
  3. (UK, historical, usually) A sum paid for the pardon of some great offence and the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal punishment.
    • punished with imprisonment and ransom at the King's will1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC

Verb

ransom (third-person singular simple present ransoms, present participle ransoming, simple past and past participle ransomed)

  1. (obsolete) To deliver, especially in context of sin or relevant penalties.
  2. To pay a price to set someone free from captivity or punishment.
    • to ransom prisoners from an enemy
    • And gainſt the General we will lift our ſwords
      And either lanch his greedie thirſting throat,
      Or take him priſoner, and his chaine ſhall ſerue
      For Manackles, till he be ranſom’d home.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  3. To exact a ransom (payment) in exchange for the freedom of.
    • Terrorists will continue to hold few detainees in undisclosed locations in order to ransom them for money or some other material profit, […]2017, Bruce Oliver Newsome, James W. Stewart, Aarefah Mosavi, Countering New(est) Terrorism: Hostage-Taking, Kidnapping, and Active Violence — Assessing, Negotiating, and Assaulting, CRC Press, →ISBN

Proper noun capitalized: Ransom

Ransom (countable and uncountable, plural Ransoms)

  1. A surname.
  2. A village in Allen Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, named after Thomas E. G. Ransom.
  3. A minor city in Ness County, Kansas, also named after Thomas Ransom.
  4. An unincorporated community in Pike County, Kentucky.
  5. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Hillsdale County, Michigan, named after Epaphroditus Ransom.
  6. An unincorporated community and township in Nobles County, Minnesota.
  7. A township and village therein, in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, named after Samuel Ransom.

ransom meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

ransom in Hindi

money paid for the freeing of a hostage
फिरौती phirautī, मुक्तिधन muktidhan
to pay a price to set someone free
फिरौती देना phirautī denā

ransom in Tamil

பணயம், பிணைப்பணம்

ransom in Urdu

ransom
فدیہ fidya

ransom in Bengali

ransom
চাঁদা cãda
More languagesFewer languages
ransom in Malayalam
മറുവില, മോചനദ്രവ്യം, ബന്ധനമോചനം
ransom in Kannada
ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಯ ಬೆಲೆ, ಬಂದಿ ವಿಮೋಚನ ಧನ, ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೆ ಕೊಡಬೇಕಾದ ಹಣ, ವಿಮೋಚನಾ ಶುಲ್ಕ
ransom in Tagalog
pantubos, panubos
ransom in Arabic
فِدْيَة fidya, اِفْتَدَى iftadā, فَدَى fadā
ransom in Malay
tebusan, menebus
ransom in Indonesian
tebusan
ransom in Persian
فدیه fedye
ransom in Thai
ไถ่ตัว

Examples of ransom in a sentence

  • Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems.1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert...
  • His captivity in Austria, and the heavy ransom he paid for his liberty.1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

All 19 example sentences with ransom

Forms of ransom

Noun
pluralransoms
Verb
third-person singular presentransoms
present participleransoming
past participleransomed
pastransomed
Proper noun
pluralRansoms

Plural of ransom: ransoms

Origin of ransom

From the Middle English raunsoun, from the Old French raençon, from stem of Latin redēmptiō. Entered English ca. the 13th century. Doublet of redemption.

Words formed from ransom

Phrases with ransom

Words that rhyme with ransom

Questions about ransom

What does ransom mean?
Ransom means money paid for the freeing of a hostage.
What is ransom in Hindi?
Ransom in Hindi is फिरौती (phirautī), मुक्तिधन (muktidhan), फिरौती देना (phirautī denā). See Ransom meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ransom in a sentence?
Thy ransom paid, which man from death redeems.
What part of speech is ransom?
Ransom can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ransom?
Ransom is pronounced /ˈɹæn.səm/.
What is the plural of ransom?
The plural of ransom is ransoms.

Words near ransom in the dictionary

  1. ransinghas
  2. Ranskill
  3. Ransley
  4. Ransleys
  5. Ransohan
  6. ransom
  7. Ransom County
  8. ransom note effect
  9. ransom note effects
  10. ransom strip
  11. ransom strips

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ransom (page history and authors); Ransom (page history and authors); ransom (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); فدیہ (Urdu) (page history and authors); চাঁদা (Bengali) (page history and authors); ransom (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ransom (Kannada Wiktionary) (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)-Vealhurl-ransom.wav.

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