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ransom

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ransuhm

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹænsəm

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.

  2. The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration.

  3. A minor city in Ness County, Kansas, also named after Thomas Ransom.

  4. A place in the United States

verb

  1. To pay a price to set someone free from captivity or punishment.

  2. To exact a ransom (payment) in exchange for the freedom of.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.

Used this way, ransom is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Money

ransom moneyransom demand

Sum

heavy ransom

Other combinations

harry ransomransom noteransom humanitieslarge ransombasil ransom

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • ransom moneynounCompound term

    Money demanded for the return of a captured person.

  • king's ransomnounCompound term

    A very large treasure.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to pay a price to set someone free from captivity

redeem

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.