Thesaurus results for FLEECED

fleeced

verb

Definition of fleeced

past tense of fleece

as in cheated

to rob by the use of trickery or threats swindlers who use the telephone to fleece senior citizens out of their savings

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 fleeced The text is written on parchment made from sheep, fleeced, their hides soaked in lime, stretched and dried. — Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026 As an example of money wasted by LAHSA’s lack of financial controls, Turner cited the recent federal indictment alleging a homeless services provider fleeced the system of $23 million in fraudulent billings. — Los Angeles Times, 12 Aug. 2026 Some television-repair programs, for example, offered free TV sets to get veterans in the door and then fleeced VA for their tuition. — Andrew Ba Tran, Washington Post, 22 July 2026 At his sentencing in 2024, Bailyn, the prosecutor, described Lorquet as a greedy criminal who fleeced his country at one of its weakest moments in history. — Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 8 June 2026 The lesson from the parking deal is not merely that the city got fleeced by private investors. — Chicago Tribune, 28 May 2026 Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar is warning of another scam that fleeced local residents out of tens of thousands of dollars — this time targeting family members of inmates in the Bexar County jail. — Saul Pink, San Antonio Express-News, 28 Feb. 2026 Mexican cartels have fleeced American victims for hundreds of millions of dollars through timeshare fraud over the decades, treasury officials said, targeted them through call centers staffed by English-speaking telemarketers. — Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 26 Feb. 2026 Compared with the ostensible consequences of the prisoner’s dilemma, getting fleeced in the snowdrift problem’s scenario isn’t quite as disastrous. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleeced

Verb

But the idea that girls are being cheated is personal for some athletes.

— ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
Miller—who is no stranger to extramarital tabloid scandals herself—has also mastered her getting-cheated-on performances.

— Elise Taylor, Vanity Fair, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of cheated

Verb

Stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgard, Raymond Nicholson and Tom Francis as college football stars plucked from the height of their sports careers and into Marine training and the Pacific theater.

— Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2026
Luckily for the man, having all of the adult worms plucked from his orbs meant the infection was over—no antiparasitic medication required, even if some of the larvae had been left behind.

— Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of plucked

Verb

In Frankfurt, a gray city crumbling at the corners and still finding its footing after the war, though somehow doing its best to pretend all is well, Mann and Erika are greeted by the mayor and hustled off to a press conference.

— Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 23 Oct. 2026
The two firefighters, listening to their radios, hustled to the upstream bridge, prepared rope and watched the water.

— Abe Streep, ProPublica, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of hustled

Verb

Apple has already implemented a series of price hikes on some of its hardware offerings due to rising memory costs, but margins can still be squeezed if the full increase wasn't passed through.

— Kevin Stankiewicz, CNBC, 1 Nov. 2026
But in Israel at least, creatives have been stymied in recent years by a plethora of measures that have left them squeezed between censorship at home and international boycotts.

— Max Goldbart, Deadline, 30 Oct. 2026

Definition of squeezed

Verb

And there’s little reasonable about looking the other way when residents say they’re being swindled or when the state’s constitution is being violated.

— Scott Maxwell, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Oct. 2026
At one point, Fred was swindled out of upward of $15,000 when someone pretended to be the owner of a house for sale that Fred wanted to buy.

— Megan Rose, ProPublica, 9 Sep. 2026

Definition of swindled

Verb

Raichlen’s career, in a way, is similar in that he’s never been stuck in the lane of writing about barbecuing only brisket and pork.

— Katelyn Umholtz, Kansas City Star, 23 Oct. 2026
Other franchises have run into the same issues — looking at you, Star Wars — but Halo has been stuck in this purgatory for 15+ years, as Xbox leaders and strategy shifts come and go.

— Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of stuck

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“Fleeced.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fleeced. Accessed 4 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of fleeced

verb

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