bilking

verb

present participle of bilk
as in cheating
to rob by the use of trickery or threats an investigation revealed that the garage had been bilking motorists for repairs that had never been made

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 bilking Sophisticated online fraud schemes, operating from industrial-scale scam centers in Southeast Asia, are bilking Americans out of billions of dollars each year. — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 8 Aug. 2026 Through letters, Ulisses charms lonely women, bilking them of money and possessions. — Hamilton Cain, Time, 7 July 2026 Elsaid is accused of bilking the medical assistance program out of over $182,000, while Agwa is accused of swindling over $94,000 from the program. — Riley Moser, CBS News, 23 June 2026 In 2019, a couple was charged with embezzlement and exploiting the elderly for bilking buyers in six Western North Carolina counties out of millions of dollars for log homes. — Amber Gaudet, Charlotte Observer, 14 May 2026 Murdaugh, 57, will remain in prison, however, after being sentenced on dozens of state and federal charges for bilking millions from his former law firm and clients for more than a decade. — Pilar Melendez, NBC news, 14 May 2026 Yassin and Stevens are the first drivers to face any criminal repercussions for allegedly bilking the program. — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 11 Feb. 2026 Former Jackson Health Foundation COO Charmaine Gatlin pled guilty to bilking millions in charity funds. — Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 15 Dec. 2025 Holmes was convicted in 2022 of four counts of felony fraud for bilking investors in her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup out of hundreds of millions of dollars via false claims about the technology. — Ethan Baron, Mercury News, 3 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bilking
  1. cheating
  2. squeezing
  3. hustling
  4. plucking
  5. stinging
  6. screwing
  7. defrauding
  8. beating
Verb
  • The attack on Hugging Face was then part of an elaborate attempt to evade being caught cheating.
    — Beatrice Nolan, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Educators raise concerns about cognitive offloading and easy access to cheating.
    — Kiryn Hoffman, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of cheating
Verb
  • Democrats have hammered on meat as well, but mainly just as one of the staples that cost more under Trump, squeezing voters’ pocketbooks.
    — Nicholas Riccardi, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Democrats have hammered on meat as well, but mainly just as one of the staples that cost more under Trump, squeezing voters' pocketbooks.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of squeezing
Verb
  • After hustling in the industry for the better part of a decade, her profile has completely exploded over the past few months.
    — Ethan Millman, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Devers, who finished with three hits, eschewed his power for small ball in the fifth, laying down a surprise bunt for a single, then hustling home on Susac’s sacrifice fly.
    — Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 31 July 2026
Definition of hustling
Verb
  • LLMs are great at finding blowups that exist—at searching the infinite landscape of fluid scenarios and plucking out the precise situation that breaks the equations.
    — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Fortunately, many dahlia insect problems in September can be solved by walking through the garden in the morning and plucking the offending insects off the plants by hand, then dropping them into a container of soapy water.
    — Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of plucking
Verb
  • That money has been transformed into frequent online and television ads either stinging or lauding the two candidates.
    — John Aguilar, Denver Post, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Indy struggled against Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in its season opener, then took a stinging 33-30 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
    — Elise Devlin, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of stinging
Verb
  • Unlike MacKay’s Ferrars, seemingly the more loyal and irreproachable type, both men end up screwing over the Dashwoods in their own ways.
    — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 13 Oct. 2026
  • In a video from March 4, 2019, her co-worker David Xu can be seen approaching her desk, pouring a substance into the bottle, screwing the lid back on and quickly walking away.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of screwing
Verb
  • Bettors would then wager against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other gamblers, authorities said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The dozen defendants face 187 counts in all, including forgery, motor vehicle theft and defrauding creditors, the government and insurance companies.
    — Sam Tabachnik, Denver Post, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of defrauding
Verb
  • Prosecutors claimed Davis acted out of revenge for Shakur and his crew previously beating on Orlando Anderson, Davis’ nephew.
    — Dominic Patten, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Heavy winds, beating sun and wide, open spaces give the area plentiful access to cheap green energy and land.
    — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of beating

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Cite this Entry

“Bilking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bilking. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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