kidnap
verb /ˈkɪdnæp/
/ˈkɪdnæp/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they kidnap | /ˈkɪdnæp/ /ˈkɪdnæp/ |
| he / she / it kidnaps | /ˈkɪdnæps/ /ˈkɪdnæps/ |
| past simple kidnapped | /ˈkɪdnæpt/ /ˈkɪdnæpt/ |
| past participle kidnapped | /ˈkɪdnæpt/ /ˈkɪdnæpt/ |
| (US English also) past simple kidnaped | /ˈkɪdnæpt/ /ˈkɪdnæpt/ |
| (US English also) past participle kidnaped | /ˈkɪdnæpt/ /ˈkɪdnæpt/ |
| -ing form kidnapping | /ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/ /ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/ |
| (US English also) -ing form kidnaping | /ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/ /ˈkɪdnæpɪŋ/ |
- kidnap somebody to take somebody away illegally and keep them as a prisoner, especially in order to get money or something else for returning them synonym abduct, seize
- Two businessmen have been kidnapped by terrorists.
- The terrorists were planning to kidnap one of the president’s sons.
WordfinderTopics Crime and punishmentc1- alert
- assassinate
- attack
- campaign
- execute
- extremist
- hijack
- hostage
- kidnap
- terrorism
Oxford Collocations DictionaryKidnap is used with these nouns as the subject:- alien
- child
Word Originlate 17th cent.: back-formation from kidnapper, from kid ‘child’ + slang nap ‘nab, seize’.