Thesaurus results for FLEECED

fleeced

verb

Definition of fleeced

past tense of fleece

as in cheated

to rob by the use of trickery or threats swindlers who use the telephone to fleece senior citizens out of their savings

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of fleeced And then there’s the annual plowing of millions in DWP surplus dollars into the City Hall piggy bank, which convinces ratepayers they’re being fleeced. — Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026 Some television-repair programs, for example, offered free TV sets to get veterans in the door and then fleeced VA for their tuition. — Andrew Ba Tran, Washington Post, 22 July 2026 At his sentencing in 2024, Bailyn, the prosecutor, described Lorquet as a greedy criminal who fleeced his country at one of its weakest moments in history. — Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 8 June 2026 The lesson from the parking deal is not merely that the city got fleeced by private investors. — Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2026 Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar is warning of another scam that fleeced local residents out of tens of thousands of dollars — this time targeting family members of inmates in the Bexar County jail. — Saul Pink, San Antonio Express-News, 28 Feb. 2026 Mexican cartels have fleeced American victims for hundreds of millions of dollars through timeshare fraud over the decades, treasury officials said, targeted them through call centers staffed by English-speaking telemarketers. — Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 26 Feb. 2026 Compared with the ostensible consequences of the prisoner’s dilemma, getting fleeced in the snowdrift problem’s scenario isn’t quite as disastrous. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2026 Their false claims about getting financially fleeced by Uncle Sam were fueled by a rather sophisticated, albeit deceitful and shameful lobbying campaign, sponsored by greedy gadflies out to make a quick buck. — Tom Margenau, Dallas Morning News, 1 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleeced

Verb

Bo told Lu that if the audit produced evidence that he had been cheated, Wang should go to prison.

— Hailey Wang, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2026
In one case, several systems worked on a problem in parallel, one cheated outright, and the system assigned to summarize their work did not flag it.

— Craig S. Smith, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of cheated

Verb

Doubs plucked the ball over Gonzalez, who had successfully backed him near the boundary but couldn’t box out the 6-foot-2 receiver entirely.

— Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 10 Aug. 2026
The bass player plucked each of his instrument’s four strings, one at a time, while turning the corresponding tuning pegs.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of plucked

Verb

The over-all technical director, Oscar Lopez, whose day job entails managing events at Resorts World, hustled crews carefully among setups and sites.

— Paige Williams, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
During a break Saturday, Freeling hustled home and caught two episodes before returning to the hotel where the rookies and younger players stay during camp ahead of curfew.

— Joseph Person, New York Times, 27 July 2026

Definition of hustled

Verb

But attorneys and housing advocates who work with struggling homeowners say household budgets are being squeezed from several directions.

— Nora O'Neill, Charlotte Observer, 11 Aug. 2026
Io is repeatedly squeezed and stretched by Jupiter and the gravitational pulls of neighboring moons Europa and Ganymede.

— Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of squeezed

Verb

While the men whom Chen allegedly swindled began to grow suspicious of her actions around 2024, the Clark County Marriage Bureau reported her to the police, resulting in the launch of an investigation around the same time.

— Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 16 June 2026
Aller swindled deal after deal on 2022 draft night, garnering future draft picks and getting off enough salary to sign Brunson and more.

— Fred Katz, New York Times, 26 May 2026

Definition of swindled

Browse Nearby Words

fleece

fleeced

fleeces

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Fleeced.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fleeced. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of fleeced

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster on fleeced

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

salvo

Popular in Grammar & Usage

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes