- money that is paid to somebody so that they will set free a person who is being kept as a prisoner by them
- The kidnappers demanded a ransom of £50 000 from his family.
- a ransom demand/note
- ransom money
- They are refusing to pay ransom for her release.
- They stole cattle for ransom.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverb + ransom- hold somebody for
- hold somebody to
- kidnap somebody for
- …
- demand
- note
- money
- …
- for ransom
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French ransoun (noun), ransouner (verb), from Latin redemptio(n-) ‘ransoming, releasing’, from redimere ‘buy back’, from re- ‘back’ + emere ‘buy’. Early use also occurred in theological contexts expressing ‘deliverance’ and ‘atonement’.
Idioms
See ransom in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryhold somebody to ransom
- to keep somebody as a prisoner and demand that other people pay you an amount of money before you set them free
- (disapproving) to take action that puts somebody in a very difficult situation in order to force them to do what you want
- The company refused to be held to ransom by the union.
a king’s ransom
- (literary) a very large amount of money
Check pronunciation:
ransom