Christian Caryl et al.Dana BowenTom WolfeC. P. Reynolds
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Ransack carries the image of a house being roughly disarranged, as might happen when you are frantically searching for something. This is appropriate given the word’s origin. Ransack comes, via Middle English, from the Old Norse word rannsaka: the rann in rannsaka means “house”; the second half of rannsaka is what is known as an “ablaut” variant of sœkja, meaning “to seek, search out.” But our modern use of the word isn’t restricted to houses. You can ransack a drawer, a suitcase, or even (by hurriedly looking through it) the contents of a book. Ransack also inspired another English word related to disorder and unsteadiness. A now-obsolete form of ransack, ransackle, gave us our adjective ramshackle, meaning “rickety” or “carelessly or loosely constructed.”
Examples of ransack in a Sentence
Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 14 June 2024
Regarding the first incident, Hawn said the couple returned from a night out in 2020 to find their home ransacked.
—Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 June 2024
Listen to this article Several businesses in New Haven were ransacked during a series of early-morning break-ins on Thursday.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 11 Apr. 2024
Police are investigating three thefts over the weekend in Fairfield, including one involving two suspects who rammed a vehicle through a storefront before ransacking it.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 25 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for ransack 
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“Ransack.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ransack. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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ransack
verb
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