Meanings
present singular third person abducts · participle present abducting · participle past abducted · past abducted
- transitiveTo take away by force; to carry away (a human being) wrongfully and usually with violence or deception; to kidnap.First known use Early 17ᵗʰ century.
to abduct children
2 more examples
I was abducted by aliens.
That same night he had by force abducted the president and the secretary of the club, and had taken them, much against their will upon a voyage in the wonderful air-ship, the “Albatross,” which he had constructed.
1904, Jules Verne, chapter 16, in The Master of the World, archived from the original on 23 Feb 2012
Synonyms & antonyms
verbtake away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
- Proto-Italic*ap
- Latinab
- Latinab-
- Proto-Indo-European*dewk-
- Proto-Indo-European*déwkti
- Proto-Italic*doukō
- Latindūcō
- Latinabdūcō
- Latinabductus
- Englishabduct
From Latin abductus, perfect passive participle of abduco (“to lead away”), from ab (“away”) + duco (“to lead”). * (physiology): Back-formation from abduction.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans ontvoer, kid'nap
- ontvoerto take away
- kid'napto take away
- hi'jackto take away
Arabic يَخْطِفّ
- يَخْطِفّ (yaḵṭiff)to take away
Bulgarian отвличам, похищавам
- отвличам (otvličam)to take away
- похищавам (pohištavam)to take away
Catalan raptar, abduir
- raptarto take away
- abduirto draw away from its ordinary position
Chinese Mandarin 誘拐 /诱拐
- 誘拐 /诱拐 (yòuguǎi)to take away
Czech unést
- unéstto take away
Danish bortføre, kidnappe
- bortføreto take away
- kidnappeto take away
Dutch ontvoeren, kidnappen
- ontvoerento take away
- kidnappento take away
- abducerento draw away from its ordinary position
Esperanto forrabi
- forrabito take away
Finnish siepata, ryöstää
- siepatato take away
- ryöstääto take away
- abduktoidato take away
- loitontaato draw away from its ordinary position
- abduktoidato draw away from its ordinary position
French enlever, ravir
- enleverto take away
- ravirto take away
German entführen, abspreizen
- entführento take away
- abspreizento draw away from its ordinary position
- wegziehento draw away from its ordinary position
Greek απάγω
- απάγω (apágo)to take away
Hungarian elrabol, elmozdít
- elrabolto take away
- elmozdítto draw away from its ordinary position
Icelandic ræna
- rænato take away
Indonesian menculik
- menculikto take away
Irish fuadaigh
- fuadaighto take away
Italian sottrarre, sequestrare
- sottrarreto take away
- sequestrareto take away
- rapireto take away
- abdurreto draw away from its ordinary position
Japanese 誘拐する
- 誘拐する (yūkai suru)to take away
Korean 유괴하다, 납치하다
- 유괴하다 (yugoehada)to take away
- 납치하다 (napchihada)to take away
Latin raptō
- raptōto take away
Lithuanian pagrobti
- pagrobtito take away
Malay culik
- culikto take away
Māori kāhaki, kāwhaki
- kāhakito take away
- kāwhakito take away
- mautāhaeto take away
Norwegian Bokmål bortføre, kidnappe
- bortføreto take away
- kidnappeto take away
- abdusereto draw away from its ordinary position
Polish uprowadzać, uprowadzić
- uprowadzaćto take away
- uprowadzićto take away
Portuguese raptar, sequestrar
- raptarto take away
- sequestrarto take away
- abduzirto take away
- abduzirto draw away from its ordinary position
Romanian răpi, abduce
- răpito take away
- abduceto draw away from its ordinary position
Russian похища́ть, похи́тить
- похища́ть (poxiščátʹ)to take away
- похи́тить (poxítitʹ)to take away
- абду́кция (abdúkcija)to draw away from its ordinary position
- отведе́ние (otvedénije)to draw away from its ordinary position
Slovak uniesť
- uniesťto take away
Spanish raptar, secuestrar
- raptarto take away
- secuestrarto take away
- abducirto take away
- abducirto draw away from its ordinary position
Tagalog dukot
- dukotto take away
Tamil கடத்து
- கடத்து (kaṭattu)to take away
Thai ลักพา, ฉุด
- ลักพา (lak-paa)to take away
- ฉุด (choot)to take away
Vietnamese bắt cóc, cuỗm đi
- bắt cócto take away
- cuỗm đito take away
- lừa đem đito take away
- rẽ rato draw away from its ordinary position
- giạng rato draw away from its ordinary position
Welsh cipio
- cipioto take away
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with abduct
Cite this entry
abduct. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abduct
“abduct.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abduct. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “abduct,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abduct.
Source: abduct on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.