Thesaurus results for BILKS

bilks 1 of 2

noun

plural of bilk

as in cheats

a dishonest person who uses clever means to cheat others out of something of value people who lost money in the scheme discovered that the investment company was a fake and the "owner" just a bilk

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

bilks

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of bilk

as in plucks

to rob by the use of trickery or threats an investigation revealed that the garage had been bilking motorists for repairs that had never been made

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of bilks

Noun

Fake invoices, bilks ‘restricted funds’ Jackson and court records show Gatlin approved hundreds of invoices for services and items that were never provided to the Foundation. — Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 12 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bilks

Noun

On Saturday, Bristol City fans sang a song that referred to Southampton as cheats in the opening seconds of their Championship game.

— ABC News, ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026
Sometimes, the fourth-grader asks Robo-Dad for Minecraft cheats.

— Ella Chakarian, Rolling Stone, 28 June 2026

Definition of cheats

Verb

Trump sometimes plucks memes from a sprawling ecosystem of online conservative supporters, and sometimes his government staff produces them as part of their official messaging.

— Josh Boak, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026
His torso and thighs grow eye-poppingly muscular beneath their skimpy fur-and-leather togs—a development that does not go unnoticed by a warrior named Red Hair, who plucks the young hunk from his post and tosses him into the prime time of the gladiator pit.

— Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 15 June 2026

Definition of plucks

Noun

The White House is now cracking down on these tariff dodgers.

— Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 14 Aug. 2026
Ukraine faces severe personnel shortages with around 200,000 military desertions and 2 million draft-dodgers, threatening its ability to sustain the war against Russia’s 2022 invasion.

— Kirsten Grieshaber, Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2026

Definition of dodgers

Verb

The jobs market has been resilient even as stubbornly high inflation squeezes businesses and households.

— Damian J. Troise, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
Glen Arbor to Traverse City On the Leelanau Peninsula, M-22 squeezes onto a narrow isthmus between Lake Michigan and Lake Leelanau, landing in the resort community of Leland.

— Mike Norton, Midwest Living, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of squeezes

Noun

In the video, Ramsey dons her dive gear in the ocean as she is circled by a dozen sharks.

— Luke Chinman, PEOPLE, 23 Sep. 2026
They’re protected from sharks by all the kelp growth in that spot, explained a volunteer docent who also shared that the beach’s live cam gets rather steamy in January.

— David G. Allan, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of sharks

Verb

Jessica Gonzalez hustles behind her booth at the recent Renegade Craft Fair, frantically ringing up sales, answering questions and packaging her beeswax candles.

— Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
Despite concerns that chip stocks could be topping out as the industry hustles to boost supply, Wall Street thinks Micron still has plenty of room to run.

— Tobias Burns, CNBC, 22 June 2026

Definition of hustles

Noun

The decade ended tumultuously, with the Osmond family’s fortune drained by a series of swindlers and grifters.

— Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2026
This scam, according to Kent, could be proliferated with the use of AI, which can allow swindlers to enroll in many different college programs at once.

— Peter D'Abrosca, FOXNews.com, 21 Jan. 2026

Definition of swindlers

Verb

General Mills spun off Darden Restaurants in 1995, and then Darden sold Red Lobster in 2014, in a deal with the private equity firm Golden Gate Capital that still stings many veterans to this day.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026
The pain of losing Hollywood actor Heath Ledger nearly 20 years ago still stings for his on-screen Dark Knight family.

— Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep. 2026

Definition of stings

Browse Nearby Words

bilking

bilks

bill

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Bilks.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bilks. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of bilks

noun

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

perseverate

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes