swindle

verb swin·dle \ ˈswin-dᵊl \

Definition of swindle

swindled; swindling play \ˈswin(d)-liŋ, ˈswin-dᵊl-iŋ\

intransitive verb

:to obtain money or property by fraud or deceit

transitive verb

:to take money or property from by fraud or deceit

—

swindler

play \ˈswin(d)-lər, ˈswin-dᵊl-ər\ noun

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Examples of swindle in a Sentence

hundreds of people were swindled out of their savings, and all they had to show for it were fake land deeds

Recent Examples of swindle from the Web

Termaine swindled more than $1 million in benefits in 14 months from fraudulent unemployment benefits and income tax filings using the names of over 1,000 folks, according to court documents.

— barbara hijek, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Teen caught writing criminal "to-do" list, officials say," 1 Aug. 2017
Did the swindling staffers compromise members of Congress?

— andrew c. mccarthy, National Review, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Pakistani IT Scammers," 29 July 2017
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man is charged in an elaborate plot to swindle money from a downtown law firm, according to police reports.

— courtney astolfi, cleveland.com, "Downtown Cleveland law office targeted in counterfeit check, call-forwarding scheme," 27 July 2017
The session centered around his campaign contributor, Charles Keating Jr., who was convicted of swindling investors.

— chris cillizza, CNN, "The absolutely remarkable life of John McCain," 19 July 2017
Both men were booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna with theft by cheating and swindling valued at $300 to $499.

— michelle hunter, NOLA.com, "2 accused of swindling with three-card monte outside Kenner business," 6 July 2017
Unable to pay exorbitant smuggling fees or swindled by traffickers, some of the world’s most desperate people are being held as slaves, tortured or forced into prostitution.

— Washington Post, "‘They are not treated like humans’," 2 July 2017
Before opening his food cart, owner Darren Bottinelli had been a thief, swindling more than $3 million from the health savings accounts of poor and disabled employees through his benefits administration company, Axis Health Partners.

— michael russell | the oregonian/oregonlive, OregonLive.com, "Portland's 10 best barbecue joints," 21 June 2017
Helms pleaded guilty in 2014 to swindling his investors out of tens of thousands of dollars, with a plan that called for buying and reselling heavy equipment.

— mark price, charlotteobserver, "Businessman jailed in Ponzi scheme now accused of killing Charlotte pedestrian," 20 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'swindle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of swindle

back-formation from swindler, from German Schwindler giddy person, from schwindeln to be dizzy, from Old High German swintilōn, frequentative of swintan to diminish, vanish; akin to Old English swindan to vanish

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1782

See Words from the same year

swindle Synonyms

Synonyms

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

Related Words

extort, wrench, wrest, wring; clip, gouge, nick, overcharge, soak; exploit, milk; deceive, dupe, fool, gull, trick; rope (in); betray, bitch, double-cross; bamboozle, fast-talk

Synonym Discussion of swindle

cheat, cozen, defraud, swindle mean to get something by dishonesty or deception. cheat suggests using trickery that escapes observation.

- cheated me out of a dollar

cozen implies artful persuading or flattering to attain a thing or a purpose.

- always able to cozen her grandfather out of a few dollars

defraud stresses depriving one of his or her rights and usually connotes deliberate perversion of the truth.

- defrauded of her inheritance by an unscrupulous lawyer

swindle implies large-scale cheating by misrepresentation or abuse of confidence.

- swindled of their savings by con artists

swindle

noun

Definition of swindle

:an act or instance of swindling :fraud

Examples of swindle in a Sentence

a swindle that involved selling a lot of land that really didn't exist
identity theft has become one of the most frequent and feared swindles of our time