# ransack

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈɹænsæk/ · frequency rank #87,733

## Definitions
1. To search (a place, through things, etc.) thoroughly, especially when vigorous and leaving behind a state of disarray.
2. To search (someone or a place) thoroughly in order to steal something, especially when vigorous and leaving behind a state of disarray; hence, to rob (someone or a place); to plunder.
3. To search for and steal (something) as plunder.
4. To examine (someone or something) carefully; to investigate; also, to question (someone) thoroughly; to interrogate.
5. To look for or seek out (someone).
6. To search (someone) for a thing.
7. Synonym of penetrate (“to make way into the interior of (something); to pierce”); also, synonym of pervade (“to enter and spread through (something); to permeate”).
8. To search thoroughly, especially when leaving behind a state of disarray.
9. To search for and steal things.

## Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English ransaken (“to examine, investigate; to rob, plunder, steal; to search, seek; to treat roughly, mistreat”), from Old Norse rannsaka (“to search a house (especially for stolen goods)”), from rann (“house”) (from Proto-Germanic *razną (“dwelling, house”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“to rest; quiet”)) + saka, an ablaut variant of sœkja, sǿkja (“to look for, search, seek”) (from Proto-Germanic *sōkijaną (“to look for, seek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to follow; to seek out, trace”)).
Verb verb sense 1.2 (“to search (someone, or a place) thoroughly in order to steal something”), verb sense 1.3 (“to search for and steal (something) as plunder”), and verb sense 2.2 (“to search for and steal things”) is probably influenced by sack (“to pillage, to plunder”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Middle Low German rānsāken, rantsāken
* Old Danish randsage, ransage (modern Danish ransage)
* Old Swedish ransaka (modern Swedish rannsaka)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ransack