fleece

1 of 2

noun

ˈflēs 

1

a

: the coat of wool covering a wool-bearing animal (such as a sheep)

b

: the wool obtained from a sheep at one shearing

2

a

: any of various soft or woolly coverings

b

: a soft bulky deep-piled knitted or woven fabric used chiefly for clothing

fleece

2 of 2

verb

fleeced; fleecing

transitive verb

1

a

: to strip of money or property by fraud or extortion

b

: to charge excessively for goods or services

2

: to remove the fleece from : shear

3

: to dot or cover with fleecy masses

Synonyms

Noun

• coat
• fur
• hair
• jacket
• pelage
• pile
• wool

Verb

• beat
• bilk
• bleed
• cheat
• chisel
• chouse
• con
• cozen
• defraud
• diddle
• do
• do in
• euchre
• fiddle
• flimflam
• gaff
• hose [slang]
• hustle
• mulct
• nobble [British slang]
• pluck
• ream
• rip off
• rook
• screw
• shake down
• short
• shortchange
• skin
• skunk
• squeeze
• stick
• stiff
• sting
• sucker
• swindle
• thimblerig
• victimize

Examples of fleece in a Sentence

Noun

learning how to shear the fleece off a sheep

Verb

Don't let that salesman fleece you.

an unsuspecting tourist fleeced by a scam artist

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Women's Sweater Fleece Full-zip Jacket $99 $80 at L.L. Bean This layer is designed to look like a sweater and feel like fleece. —Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 29 Apr. 2025

Grid fleece with a wind shell is better at blocking the wind than traditional fleece and more breathable as well. —Scott Gilbertson, Wired News, 18 Apr. 2025

Verb

Bell, where five former council members and two city staffers were convicted in the mid-2010s of fleecing residents for decades. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2025

He’s proven courageous by fleecing hundreds of thousands of crypto investors while using the first lady of the United States and the President of Argentina, but he’s now fallen from grace, forced into hiding with threats hanging over him. —Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes.com, 21 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English flees, from Old English flēos; akin to Middle High German vlius fleece and perhaps to Latin pluma feather, down

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1537, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for fleece

• cease
• crease
• gees
• geese
• grease
• grece
• lease
• leese
• niece
• piece
• prese
• seis

Kids Definition

fleece

1 of 2 noun

ˈflēs 

1

: the woolly coat of an animal (as a sheep)

2

a

: any of various soft or woolly coverings

b

: a soft bulky knitted or woven fabric used especially for clothing

fleecy

ˈflē-sē

adjective

fleece

2 of 2 verb

fleeced; fleecing

1

: to rob by trickery

2

: to remove the fleece from : shear