cash grab
noun
plural cash grabs
: the greedy pursuit of an opportunity for making money especially when done without regard for ethics, concerns, or consequences : money grab
Some Republican leaders have also said any attempt to undo the state's flat tax amounts to a cash grab.—
Steve LeBlanc
Steve LeBlanc… money generated by single-use plastic going onto the market is being swallowed up in a cash grab … with little or no accountability or strategy underpinning it.—Adam Leyland
Adam Leyland
also
: something (such as a product or service) used for a cash grab
HBO announced a new Harry Potter TV series, and it is an obvious cash grab that is insulting to true fans. —Victor Lana
Victor Lana But is it good enough to satisfy discerning taco-loving hipsters or is it simply a shameless, cultural appropriating cash grab? —Joey Morona
Joey Morona It might be more feasible to just give up on college football being anything but a soulless cash grab … —David Schraub
David Schraub Examples of cash grab in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Cynical cash grabs will inevitably follow, but the industry also has a chance to take away some important lessons from the Heated Rivalry success.
—Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
This adaptation of the popular RPG could have been a cynical cash grab, but writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley chose the right approach by crafting a loving tribute to what makes the game so addictive without taking it too seriously.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Jan. 2026
The op-ed further frames Illinois’ cannabis policy as a cynical cash grab.
—Chicago Tribune, 18 Jan. 2026
Pitching a book as abstruse as Your Name Here as a kind of cash grab is the novel’s wry joke.
—Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 1 Jan. 2026
Still, critics broadly dismissed the release as a kid-friendly cash grab — an assumption that was no doubt fueled by the presence of A-listers Jason Momoa and Jack Black.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 19 Dec. 2025
People who have no idea about the journalist killed just want to hear about this stupid cash grab.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
The leagues attempted to put a positive spin on this cash grab by echoing Silver’s point about oversight.
—Danny Funt, New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2025
Fortunately, this follow-up arriving four years later is no mere cash grab, but rather an even more stylistically and thematically ambitious effort that mostly succeeds in its aspirations.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025
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Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
This adaptation of the popular RPG could have been a cynical cash grab, but writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley chose the right approach by crafting a loving tribute to what makes the game so addictive without taking it too seriously.
—Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Jan. 2026
The op-ed further frames Illinois’ cannabis policy as a cynical cash grab.
—Chicago Tribune, 18 Jan. 2026
Pitching a book as abstruse as Your Name Here as a kind of cash grab is the novel’s wry joke.
—Robert Rubsam, The Atlantic, 1 Jan. 2026
Still, critics broadly dismissed the release as a kid-friendly cash grab — an assumption that was no doubt fueled by the presence of A-listers Jason Momoa and Jack Black.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 19 Dec. 2025
People who have no idea about the journalist killed just want to hear about this stupid cash grab.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 10 Dec. 2025
The leagues attempted to put a positive spin on this cash grab by echoing Silver’s point about oversight.
—Danny Funt, New Yorker, 28 Oct. 2025
Fortunately, this follow-up arriving four years later is no mere cash grab, but rather an even more stylistically and thematically ambitious effort that mostly succeeds in its aspirations.
—Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cash grab.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cash%20grab. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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