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 The text is written on parchment made from sheep, fleeced, their hides soaked in lime, stretched and dried. — Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026 As an example of money wasted by LAHSA’s lack of financial controls, Turner cited the recent federal indictment alleging a homeless services provider fleeced the system of $23 million in fraudulent billings. — Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleeced

Verb

As Gabe yells that Morgan cheated and broke up the family, a grin starts to spread across Nick’s and Serena’s faces.

— Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2026
The Dubas front office cheated for offence in a sense too, deciding to buck the trend by building from centre ice backwards and not drafting/developing top d-men.

— James Mirtle, New York Times, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of cheated

Verb

During fall, a train window serves as the perfect perch for leaf-peeping in river valleys aglow in crimson and gold or passing through small towns that look like they’ve been plucked from a Hallmark movie.

— Lauren Dana Ellman, Midwest Living, 15 Oct. 2026
As the party winded down, guests plucked final bites off silver platters and marveled at how tall Skarsgård truly is in person—his nearly six-foot-five frame barely fit under the bar’s low ceilings.

— Kenneal Patterson, Vanity Fair, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of plucked

Verb

Quickly, the house lights come up, and Lay and family are hustled backstage to get reacquainted.

— Joan Kron, Allure, 28 Sep. 2026
Her mother hustled her to hospital, only for the doctors to realize Accurso’s active imagination had left her in the same predicament as Madeline’s friends.

— CT Jones, Rolling Stone, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of hustled

Verb

All of a sudden, Bass was a staggering champion lunging at a revived Raman, who swung and stung and ducked the way only a hungry up-and-comer can.

— Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
The loss to Ole Miss three weeks ago stung, but was not unexpected.

— Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2026

Definition of stung

Verb

In Malabo, Bioko’s biggest city, a team of men and women equipped with insecticide sprayers squeezed between low-rise cement buildings on a recent morning, as heavy rain drummed on aluminum roofs.

— ABC News, ABC News, 18 Oct. 2026
Elevated borrowing rates and refinancing challenges (registration required) have squeezed an already difficult landscape for development financing.

— Jill Jones, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of squeezed

Verb

And there’s little reasonable about looking the other way when residents say they’re being swindled or when the state’s constitution is being violated.

— Scott Maxwell, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2026
At one point, Fred was swindled out of upward of $15,000 when someone pretended to be the owner of a house for sale that Fred wanted to buy.

— Megan Rose, ProPublica, 9 Sep. 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 21 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of fleeced

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

jilt

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes