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Definition of "hijack" []

  • To stop and rob (a vehicle in transit). (verb-transitive)
  • To steal (goods) from a vehicle in transit. (verb-transitive)
  • To seize control of (a moving vehicle) by use of force, especially in order to reach an alternate destination. (verb-transitive)
  • To steal from as if by hijacking. (verb-transitive)
  • To swindle or subject to extortion. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "hijack" in a sentence
  • "As e-mail tipster Lee Boggs wrote NewsBusters, "Although the word 'hijack' doesn't appear in the story, the headline writers must have felt it necessary to give it a negative slant on their homepage link, so they used the word hijack, which is normally reserved for terrorists and thugs who steal planes and cars.""
  • "Overall sound seems better – perhaps the mpeg encoding settings in hijack are better than audacity."
  • "UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think the word hijack was ever used."