ransom.
Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.
Meaning & usage
Money paid for the freeing of a hostage.
They were held for two million dollars ransom.
They were held to ransom.
The release of a captive, or of captured property, by payment of a consideration.
prisoners hopeless of ransom
A sum paid for the pardon of some great offence and the discharge of the offender; also, a fine paid in lieu of corporal punishment.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin red- Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₁émeti Proto-Italic *emō Latin emō Latin redimō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin redemptiō Old French raençonbor. Middle English raunsoun English ransom From the Middle English raunsoun, from the Old French raençon, from stem of Latin redēmptiō. Entered English ca. the 13th century. Doublet of redemption.
To deliver, especially in context of sin or relevant penalties.
To pay a price to set someone free from captivity or punishment.
to ransom prisoners from an enemy
To exact a ransom (payment) in exchange for the freedom of.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Latin red- Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *h₁émeti Proto-Italic *emō Latin emō Latin redimō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin redemptiō Old French raençonbor. Middle English raunsoun English ransom From the Middle English raunsoun, from the Old French raençon, from stem of Latin redēmptiō. Entered English ca. the 13th century. Doublet of redemption.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.