secuestrar

to kidnap

verb seh-kwehs-TRAHR Rare

Also means

to hijack

Usage Note

Secuestrar covers both kidnapping a person and hijacking a vehicle (plane, bus). The noun is secuestro (m). In legal Spanish secuestro can also mean the judicial seizure of property. Note that plagio is the older or literary synonym for kidnapping but is almost entirely displaced by secuestro in modern usage; plagio now primarily means 'plagiarism'.

Examples

"Los criminales secuestraron al empresario."

Natural Translation

The criminals kidnapped the businessman.

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