How to Use extortionate in a Sentence

extortionate

adjective

• Rents are extortionate in the cities people most want to move to.
  — The Economist, 14 Nov. 2019
• The extortionate smuggling fees leave many migrants in a state of bondage.
  — Washington Post, 1 Nov. 2019
• As populations grow, making land scarce, landlords jack up rents and lend at extortionate rates.
  — The Economist, 12 Oct. 2017
• In sum, tech companies build a walled garden, lock you in, throw away the key, let the plants die, and then charge you an extortionate rent to live among the rotting remains.
  — Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
• For a while, Madison Thompson, 30, toyed with the idea of getting a new couch but didn’t want to spend an extortionate amount.
  — Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
• The season ends with her phone ringing, with whatever extortionate demand to be made of Paula waiting for a future season.
  — Daniel D'addario, Variety, 15 July 2026
• For most people, the only way out is with a smuggling network charging extortionate prices — or in an ambulance in the aftermath of an attack.
  — Louisa Loveluck, Washington Post, 30 May 2017
• Bale is cashing in instead of playing football and Real Madrid are wasting an extortionate amount of money.
  — SI.com, 11 July 2019
• Supporters who weren't fortunate enough to get tickets through Arsenal are now having to pay extortionate amounts.
  — SI.com, 4 May 2018
• Americans are paying extortionate amounts of money for testing and quarantine.
  — Isabella Steger, Quartz, 5 Mar. 2020
• Viewers on Reddit were amused by the extortionate price shown for the vacation deal in the recent post, with several sharing their sarcastic takes on it.
  — Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Oct. 2025
• From $329 Basics Hotels that pretend to be dog friendly yet charge extortionate fees are my literal pet peeve.
  — New York Times, 7 Apr. 2018
• Nimble startups nibbled away at conventional lenders’ market share in the extortionate business of moving money across borders.
  — The Economist, 25 Dec. 2019
• Some tickets prices have seen hikes of over 30%, and fans of both clubs have hit out at English Football's governing body for charging 'extortionate' fees.
  — SI.com, 24 Apr. 2018
• Fox News also argued that the the lawsuit was legally meritless and that it was only commenced for the purpose of extracting an extortionate settlement.
  — Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Mar. 2018
• By contrast, a large spike in health-insurance premiums ahead of the 2018 midterms, induced by the president’s extortionate tweets, has no such upside.
  — Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, 4 Aug. 2017
• As committee members took turns scolding the airlines for all manner of abuses—ranging from too-tight seating to extortionate changes—there was little agreement among them on how to solve what’s ailing the industry.
  — Barbara Peterson, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 May 2017
• Tottenham Hotspur could face something of a player mutiny over their salaries, after details emerged of Daniel Levy's extortionate wage in north London.
  — SI.com, 4 Apr. 2018
• Paulinho cost the Madrid giants around £36m, a figure which many onlookers believed to be extortionate for a player who had done little to earn the price-tag in his recent footballing endeavours.
  — SI.com, 21 Sep. 2017
• However, the £35m fee offered by Beijing has proven too extortionate to compete with, with Bakambu’s switch to China now seeming imminent.
  — SI.com, 7 Jan. 2018
• Once in China, defectors must rely on smugglers who charge extortionate rates to evade Chinese security and North Korean agents.
  — Jane Perlez, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Mar. 2018
• The power imbued in the minority to stop extortionate generational bills — the cost now estimated somewhere over $6 trillion — is just as valid as the power the majority uses to propose them.
  — David Harsanyi, National Review, 3 May 2021
• Skolnick is charged with one count each of production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, possession of child pornography, child enticement and making extortionate communications.
  — Ben Sales, sun-sentinel.com, 18 Sep. 2019
• Instead, the president governs by executive orders, emergency decrees, and extortionate transactions, using his power to reward his friends and punish his enemies.
  — Gregg Nunziata, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2026
• The ban -- which only applies to foreign nationals, not American citizens -- has triggered widespread confusion, extortionate re-booking fees and frantic Googling.
  — Eliza MacKintosh, CNN, 13 Mar. 2020
• Extortionate disability lawsuits tarnish the legitimate claims of others who genuinely seek redress for inadequate access.
  — Orange County Register Editorial Board, Orange County Register, 25 May 2017
• In 1887 he was invited to resume the presidency of the Northern Pacific but drove it into receivership by loading it with extortionate loans to himself.
  — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2021
• One of her two main characters, Jack Chen, is a high-tech pirate, roaming the seas in her private submarine while reverse-engineering proprietary drugs for the benefit of those who can't afford the extortionate prices of the drug companies.
  — Gary K. Wolfe, chicagotribune.com, 5 Sep. 2017
• Sports franchises everywhere can be tacky, rapacious, incompetent, extortionate, and otherwise exploitative, but only because their customers, the fans, are essentially captives.
  — Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 23 Apr. 2026
• Navigation between terminals is inefficient and labyrinthine at best, the service is indifferent if absent entirely, shopping is decentralized, and the dining options—beyond macarons and chocolate—are extortionate and limited.
  — Lindsey Tramuta, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Jan. 2018