How to Use ransom in a Sentence

ransom

1 of 2 noun
  • The ransom note explained the terms under which she would be released.
  • The family is willing to pay ransom for his release.
  • The kidnappers demanded a ransom of one million dollars.
  • Case in point, the ransom notes.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Not when the ransom notes have stopped coming.
    — Howard Blum, Air Mail, 30 May 2026
  • One golden throne has been sold for a king’s ransom.
    — Mason Leath, ABC News, 19 Nov. 2025
  • It is not known as fact that this was a kidnapping for ransom.
    — Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Nanos was asked if a ransom demand had been made for Guthrie.
    — Pat Milton, CBS News, 3 Feb. 2026
  • Was this in fact a kidnapping for ransom?
    — CNN Money, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Carter said both advised against paying a ransom.
    — Alex Derosier, Twin Cities, 12 Aug. 2025
  • Rob counted ransom money, his back turned.
    — Jp Mangalindan, Time, 6 Nov. 2025
  • It’s not known if a ransom was demanded from Asahi.
    — John Liu, CNN Money, 8 Oct. 2025
  • And sometimes, even after paying the ransom, you still get killed.
    — Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Police believe most of the ransom notes received were fake.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 24 Apr. 2026
  • People are being held (to) ransom.
    — Ivana Kottasová, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
  • What's happening with the ransom notes?
    — Stephanie Innes, AZCentral.com, 13 Feb. 2026
  • The great dilemma for every city under attack is whether to pay the ransom.
    — Emil Sayegh, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
  • And police have identified who is behind at least one of those hoax ransom notes.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 27 Apr. 2026
  • Does that mean King still has to pay the exorbitant ransom?
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2025
  • There has been no confirmation that the ransom has indeed been paid.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 10 Feb. 2026
  • There has reportedly been a ransom note and even a payment made.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 11 Feb. 2026
  • There has been no confirmation that the ransom has indeed been paid.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 13 Feb. 2026
  • The Kyber ransom note gives victims one week to respond.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 23 Apr. 2026
  • They've even been known to send ransom demands directly through Teams chat.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Armed gangs terrorize and abduct people for ransom in the northwest.
    — James Bwala, ABC News, 25 Feb. 2023
  • Those tasks included going to a bank for ransom money.
    — Lauren Clark, CBS News, 29 Mar. 2026
  • Quinn explained that Huskins had been held for $8,500 ransom.
    — Nicole Acosta, Peoplemag, 30 Jan. 2024
  • The official said no ransom was paid and no concession was made to captors.
    — Eric Tucker, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Mar. 2023
  • That ransom, as specified in the note, has been set at 6 million dollars.
    — Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 13 Feb. 2026
  • There were threats of kidnappings and demands for ransom payments.
    — Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 June 2023

ransom

2 of 2 verb
  • He was held captive for a week before he was ransomed and returned to his family.
  • Perhaps she had been struck over the head and wrapped in fabric and thrown in a crate, to be ransomed.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • Louis was ransomed and the original plan had to be abandoned.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 26 June 2019
  • Now there’s ransom debt to pay, and another asylum case to make.
    — Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2021
  • The hackers then request ransom to release the data back to the cities.
    — Eric A. Howald Of The Keizertimes, oregonlive, 23 June 2020
  • Will the jewels be returned, or the tiaras and necklaces ransomed back by a third party?
    — John Miller, CNN Money, 19 Nov. 2025
  • Is violence or ransom money the motive for the crime?
    — Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 21 Feb. 2026
  • Say a client is living in a territory where kidnap and ransom for profit is a day-to-day threat.
    — Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 4 June 2022
  • They were held for five days until their families raised about $4,000 to ransom each of them.
    — Michael Sangiacomo, cleveland.com, 12 Dec. 2017
  • In a nearby room with a view of the cable cars, a scared, desperate couple receives ransom terms from a stranger on the phone.
    — Matt Cabral, EW.com, 22 June 2020
  • And their plan was to steal Abraham Lincoln’s dead body and ransom it back to the city of Chicago.
    — Selome Hailu, Variety, 4 Nov. 2021
  • The buyers stand to make even more by extracting credit card info, ransoming accounts, and so on.
    — Jacob Brogan, Slate Magazine, 1 Feb. 2017
  • Identify who to call for help in the event of an attack and make decisions in advance about how to respond to ransom demands.
    — oregonlive, 13 Jan. 2022
  • But as time passed, the men seemed more apologetic and admitted ransoming Western hostages.
    — New York Times, 25 Mar. 2020
  • The three planned for more than a year to ransom the children for $5 million from the state Board of Education.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Oct. 2019
  • By holding all those things to ransom behind crypto tollbooths, the holders hoped to convert their tokens to real money.
    — WIRED, 23 Jan. 2023
  • Should countries like Hungary be able to hold the rest of the bloc to ransom with its veto, and how can the EU reform that?
    — Luke McGee, CNN, 31 May 2022
  • Pilots making emergency landings in the desert risked being captured by local nomadic tribes who would then attempt to ransom them.
    — Miquel Ros, CNN, 14 Apr. 2021
  • There’s also the chance investigators in at least some cases can recover from criminals ransom that has been paid.
    — Eric Tucker, Fortune, 7 July 2021
  • Her fame also meant a lot of people's thoughts ran first to the possibility of kidnapping and ransom as soon as reports that her mother was missing came out.
    — Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Wampanoag abducted settlers and held them ransom, and settlers pillaged and destroyed Native villages.
    — Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping, 19 Sep. 2022
  • After a shady investor steals their new invention, Nick, Dale and Kurt conspire to kidnap the man’s adult son and ransom him to pay off their debts.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2019
  • The company caved to hackers’ ransom demands within hours of the attack, Bloomberg News reported.
    — Nicolás Rivero, Quartz, 14 May 2021
  • Yet huge corporations are successfully held to ransom every day by cyber crooks demanding millions for the safe return of data.
    — Al Ramich, Forbes, 1 July 2022
  • Both the group's blog site and ransom negotiation portal shut down, CBS News confirmed.
    — Nicole Sganga, CBS News, 15 July 2021
  • Ransomware attacks hold data or access to computer systems ransom and demand money in return for releasing control back to the owner.
    — Cameron Knight, The Enquirer, 11 May 2021
  • Authorities in Kaduna are, however, opposed to ransom payments.
    — Nimi Princewill, CNN, 24 Apr. 2021
  • Extremists continue to hold the region to ransom, and banditry has led to the killing of thousands and the abduction of many including schoolchildren.
    — Chinedu Asadu, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Nov. 2021
  • And specific strains of malware bring different risk factors to ransom negotiations.
    — Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 23 Jan. 2023
  • The Guthrie family has publicly responded to ransom notes with video messages, offering to pay for their mother's return home, but have not received a response.
    — Alana Wise, NPR, 6 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ransom.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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