as in extortion
the exaction of a grossly excessive charge for goods or services
what some rock superstars charge for concert tickets is simply highway robbery
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of highway robbery
Then Denver slapped him with a four-year, $60 million deal that now looks like highway robbery compared to the rest of the NFL’s inflated edge market.
—
Luca Evans, Denver Post, 25 July 2025
This was a dangerous situation and was literally highway robbery.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 July 2025
Hospitals have gotten away with this sort of highway robbery for years, thanks to a combination of consolidation and misleading arguments.
—Craig M. Wax, Boston Herald, 13 June 2025
To me, one meant highway robbery and the other meant equal pain, equal pleasure.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 16 Apr. 2025
This highway robbery of our funds directly out of our bank account is a betrayal of everyone who calls New York City home.
—Maria Ramirez Uribe, Austin American Statesman, 10 Feb. 2025
The Nets‘ famous offseason trade with the Knicks — centered around Mikal Bridges — looks more like highway robbery each day.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025
Jerry showed no sign of clocking their absence, though Bill wasn’t watching too closely—an act of moral highway robbery, maybe, but what was depredation if not an escape from the mundane?
—Hazlitt, 9 Dec. 2024
Roberto Poli, Boynton Beach Highway robbery What has come out in the University of Florida student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator, regarding the spending of former UF president Ben Sasse, looks like highway robbery.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 20 Aug. 2024
Luca Evans, Denver Post, 25 July 2025
This was a dangerous situation and was literally highway robbery.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 July 2025
Hospitals have gotten away with this sort of highway robbery for years, thanks to a combination of consolidation and misleading arguments.
—Craig M. Wax, Boston Herald, 13 June 2025
To me, one meant highway robbery and the other meant equal pain, equal pleasure.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 16 Apr. 2025
This highway robbery of our funds directly out of our bank account is a betrayal of everyone who calls New York City home.
—Maria Ramirez Uribe, Austin American Statesman, 10 Feb. 2025
The Nets‘ famous offseason trade with the Knicks — centered around Mikal Bridges — looks more like highway robbery each day.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 4 Feb. 2025
Jerry showed no sign of clocking their absence, though Bill wasn’t watching too closely—an act of moral highway robbery, maybe, but what was depredation if not an escape from the mundane?
—Hazlitt, 9 Dec. 2024
Roberto Poli, Boynton Beach Highway robbery What has come out in the University of Florida student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator, regarding the spending of former UF president Ben Sasse, looks like highway robbery.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 20 Aug. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for highway robbery
Noun
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Spann had been facing mandatory life in prison after being convicted in November 2021 of directing or participating in four murders as well as a number of robberies and extortions over the course of two decades.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
2 Sep. 2025
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Families are forced to choose between paying extortion fees or losing contact forever.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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When yet another affair is discovered (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot mutual revenge on their cheating, lying, three-timing SOB.—
Caitlin White,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2025
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Byron had his arms wrapped around the company's HR chief, Kristin Cabot, and subsequently faced cheating allegations after they were spotted on the jumbotron.—
Megan Cartwright,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Even if what Weyland-Yutani has is blood-sucking, eye-gouging, and chest-bursting alien monsters.—
James Grebey,
Vulture,
12 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Highway robbery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highway%20robbery. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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