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Definition of kidnap verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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/
jump to other results
  1. 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.
    Topics Crime and punishmentc1
    Oxford Collocations DictionaryKidnap is used with these nouns as the subject:
    • alien
    Kidnap is used with these nouns as the object:
    • child
    See full entry
    Word Originlate 17th cent.: back-formation from kidnapper, from kid ‘child’ + slang nap ‘nab, seize’.
See kidnap in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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