ransom
33
3.8
- noun
- /ˈrænsəm/
:
rescate
- The family was desperate to pay the ransom to free their kidnapped son.
- a ransom payment
Examples
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Cartels kidnap migrants for ransom or for sale to traffickers.
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To pirates, hostages are worth more alive than dead; a dead hostage will not fetch a hefty ransom payment.
Academic text (2011) -
We'll hold him for ransom and they will pay
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We hold the world ransom for... 100 Billion dollars!
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Father, their ransom could pay for the entire campaign.
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The last thing I want is someone demanding a ransom.
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"...to rescue a girl whose ransom is only $25,000?"
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Ambassador's wife held for ransom.
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Our intention is to demand a ransom... from the North Atlantic Treaty Powers... of 280 million dollars... 100 million pounds.
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The foreign minister takes the view that it's a Paraguayan affair, the Paraguayans refuse to discuss the matter on the grounds that the President's on holiday... ...and Whitehall's position is that er, they won't be held to ransom by criminals.
Antonyms
Idioms
Compounds
Surface Forms
Etymology
Ransom comes from an old idea of 'buy back' and is related to the word redeem. So a ransom is the act of freeing someone by paying or agreeing to a price.