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

• wool
• hair

Verb

• cheat
• squeeze
• pluck
• sting
• hustle
• stick
• screw
• swindle
• beat
• skin
• bilk
• deceive
• stiff
• hose [slang]
• do
• defraud
• mulct
• victimize
• bleed
• sucker

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

Our colorful luggage, bright fleeces, grey hair and comfortable shoes feel odd amongst these sad walls. —David Greig september 15, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2025

In 2000, the company sold twenty-six million of these eighteen-dollar fleeces in Japan, enough to clothe more than twenty per cent of the country’s population. —Lauren Collins, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025

Verb

All the trucks that Buck Strickland buys his investors in episode 10 are from Bronco Barry’s car dealership, which fleeced Bobby into buying a horse a few episodes earlier. —Jake Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Aug. 2025

Now more than ever, Uncle Sam will be looking for courageous insiders to step forward to ensure that the promise to treat disease doesn’t become an opportunity to fleece taxpayers instead. —Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 12 Aug. 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