hijacking

/ˈhaɪdʒækɪŋ/
noun
  1. The act of taking control of a vehicle (such as an airplane, ship, or car) by force, especially for criminal or political purposes.
    • The hijacking of the plane ended peacefully when the authorities negotiated with the captors.
    • The government passed new security laws after a series of hijackings in the region.
    • News reports covered the hijacking of a cargo ship off the coast of Somalia.
  2. The act of taking control of something (such as a meeting, event, or process) in order to change its purpose or direction.
    • The peaceful protest was ruined by the hijacking of the event by a small group of extremists.
    • The hijacking of the legislative agenda by special interests angered many voters.
    • Some critics accused the company of a hijacking of the community forum to promote their products.
  3. The act of illegally intercepting and taking control of a digital communication, session, or account.
    • The hijacking of his email account led to a series of spam messages being sent to his contacts.
    • The company suffered a session hijacking attack that compromised user data.
    • Clicking on that link could result in the hijacking of your browser by malicious software.
verb
  1. Present participle of hijack: to take control of a vehicle by force.
    • The terrorists were hijacking a bus when the police arrived.
    • They were caught while hijacking a private jet at the airport.
    • The movie shows a group of pirates hijacking a cruise ship.
  2. Present participle of hijack: to take control of something (such as an event or process) for one's own purposes.
    • The loud protesters were accused of hijacking the town hall meeting.
    • Some politicians worry that big corporations are hijacking the democratic process.
    • The hackers were hijacking the online voting system to change the results.
  3. Present participle of hijack: to illegally intercept and take control of a digital communication or account.
    • The scammer was hijacking people's social media accounts to ask their friends for money.
    • The software prevents anyone from hijacking your internet connection.
    • He realized someone was hijacking his Wi-Fi when the internet slowed down.
What does "hijacking" mean? | whatsthatwordmean | whatsthatwordmean