profiteering

noun

prof·​i·​teer·​ing ˌprä-fə-ˈtir-iŋ 

: the act or activity of making an unreasonable profit on the sale of essential goods especially during times of emergency

… investigations unearthed information about industrial profiteering during the First World War …

—Thomas E. Ricks

The real estate culture in Florida had pushed profiteering to new levels, in large part because of its condominium economy.

—Paul Reyes

Examples of profiteering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Last week, some Senate Democrats balked at passing a popular crypto-friendly bill in light of the President’s naked profiteering. —Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 14 May 2025

His family’s worldwide profiteering and his own cryptocurrency ventures reflect a staggering assumption of impunity. 1933 and 2025 — a comparison America was despairing when FDR took office in March 1933. —Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 6 May 2025

The speculative assets were immediately condemned by ethics experts as a profiteering effort and a conflict of interest. —Vivienne Walt, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2025

The Trump Administration rode to victory by criticizing the high food prices of the Biden-Harris era, while not acknowledging the outsized role of corporate profiteering in these price hikes. —Errol Schweizer, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing profiteering

• anti-profiteering

Rhymes for profiteering

• commandeering
• disappearing
• domineering
• engineering
• interfering
• overhearing
• persevering
• pioneering
• privateering
• racketeering
• reappearing
• volunteering