Definition

1. Verb:
   • To search a place thoroughly and often in a disorderly or destructive manner: To examine all parts of something, such as a room, building, or container, in a vigorous, hurried, and typically messy way, often while looking for something.
   • To pillage or plunder; to steal goods from a place, especially during a time of chaos: To take property from a place by force, typically leaving it in a state of disarray, often in the context of war, disaster, or riot.

Examples of Usage

• Verb (Search thoroughly):
  • The police had to ransack the apartment to find the evidence.
  • I ransacked my closet looking for my old passport.
• Verb (Plunder/Steal goods):
  • The invaders ransacked the village, taking everything of value.
  • After the hurricane, some people ransacked the abandoned supermarkets.

Advanced Usage

• "to ransack one's memory/brain": To try very hard to remember something or think of an idea by searching through one's thoughts.
  • He ransacked his memory for the name of the book.
• The word often implies a sense of violation, urgency, or chaos in the search, not a neat or organized one.

Variants and Related Words

• Ransacking (noun): The act of searching a place thoroughly and messily or of plundering it.
  • The ransacking of the office left papers scattered everywhere.

Synonyms

• Search: To look through or examine carefully.
• Comb: To search a place or area meticulously and systematically.
• Rifle: To search through something, especially in order to steal from it.
• Loot: To steal goods, typically during a war or riot.
• Pillage: To rob a place using violence, especially in wartime.
• Plunder: To steal goods from a place, typically using force and in a time of disorder.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Constructions

(This word is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. Its meaning is contained within the single verb.)

Related Idioms

(There are no common idioms that use the exact word "ransack." The advanced usage "ransack one's memory/brain" is the primary figurative expression.)

Verb

1. search thoroughly
   • They combed the area for the missing child
2. steal goods; take as spoils
   • During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners