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Looted vs Ransacked - What's the difference?

looted | ransacked |

As verbs the difference between looted and ransacked

is that looted is past tense of loot while ransacked is past tense of ransack.

looted

English

Verb

(head)
  • (loot)

    • Anagrams

    * *

    loot

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) loet, loete .

    Alternative forms

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A kind of scoop or ladle, chiefly used to remove the scum from brine-pans in saltworks.

    • Etymology 2

    Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani . The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian". In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare. A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s

    Noun

    (-)
  • The act of plundering.
    • the loot of an ancient city
  • plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
  • (colloquial, US) any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
  • *1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
  • (video games) Items dropped from defeated enemies in video games and online games.
    • Synonyms
    * swag
    Related terms
    * contraband * plunder

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
  • *1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
  • (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.

    • Anagrams

    * *

    References

    *Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885). English terms derived from Hindi English terms derived from Urdu ----

    ransacked

    English

    Verb

    (head)
  • (ransack)

    • ransack

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To loot or pillage. See also sack .
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:Their vow is made / To ransack Troy.
  • (label) To make a vigorous and thorough search of (a place, person) with a view to stealing something, especially when leaving behind a state of disarray.
  • :
  • *(Robert South) (1634–1716)
  • *:to ransack every corner of theirhearts
  • (label) To examine carefully; to investigate.
  • *:
  • *:Thenne came there an olde monke whiche somtyme had ben a knyghte & behelde syre Melyas / And anone he ransakyd hym / & thenne he saide vnto syr Galahad I shal hele hym of this wo?de by the grace of god within the terme of seuen wekes
  • To violate; to ravish; to deflower.
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:Rich spoil of ransacked chastity.