as in exploited
to take unfair advantage of
unscrupulous people trying to milk the welfare system for all it's worth
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Recent Examples of milked
As part of the annual rookie luncheon, the American Dairy Association — which also supplies the traditional winner’s bottle of milk for post-race celebration consumption — brings a cow to be milked by the debutants.
—
Luke Smith, New York Times, 22 May 2026
But elsewhere, the film’s sporadic, accidental humor comes to its rescue — a scene involving a cow that clearly doesn’t want to be milked especially comes to mind.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 20 May 2026
Growing up on a farm in Wabasha, Minnesota, one of 18 children, Bea milked cows and attended a one-room schoolhouse during the great depression.
—Irene Gonzalez, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026
Netflix has milked so much out of that now-instantly recognizable sound.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2025
Monster has, itself, been the target of criticism from people like the Menendezes and the families of Dahmer’s victims, who feel their traumas have been milked for sensation rather than sublimated into high art.
—Judy Berman, Time, 6 Oct. 2025
That’s when cows need to be milked next; if no one’s there, a cow could start to leak milk, to develop an infection.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2025
Host Jimmy Kimmel milked the moment, delaying confirming that their answer was correct for a very tense minute.
—Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 26 Sep. 2025
Games don’t feel milked, overanalyzed, or — as can often be the case with Generation Kickstarter — overtly romanticized.
—Matt Gardner, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Luke Smith, New York Times, 22 May 2026
But elsewhere, the film’s sporadic, accidental humor comes to its rescue — a scene involving a cow that clearly doesn’t want to be milked especially comes to mind.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 20 May 2026
Growing up on a farm in Wabasha, Minnesota, one of 18 children, Bea milked cows and attended a one-room schoolhouse during the great depression.
—Irene Gonzalez, CBS News, 30 Mar. 2026
Netflix has milked so much out of that now-instantly recognizable sound.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2025
Monster has, itself, been the target of criticism from people like the Menendezes and the families of Dahmer’s victims, who feel their traumas have been milked for sensation rather than sublimated into high art.
—Judy Berman, Time, 6 Oct. 2025
That’s when cows need to be milked next; if no one’s there, a cow could start to leak milk, to develop an infection.
—Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 3 Oct. 2025
Host Jimmy Kimmel milked the moment, delaying confirming that their answer was correct for a very tense minute.
—Emily Zemler, Rolling Stone, 26 Sep. 2025
Games don’t feel milked, overanalyzed, or — as can often be the case with Generation Kickstarter — overtly romanticized.
—Matt Gardner, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for milked
Verb
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The early ceasefires forged with some of the biggest Colombian rebel factions have largely broken down — and even when those ceasefires were in place, the criminal organizations exploited the pause in hostilities to go after each other in the hope of capturing more territory and resources.—
Daniel DePetris,
Chicago Tribune,
2 June 2026
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The vitality of her language, its frolicsome dance with personification, communicates its own resistance in the face of an indifferent world, exploited by imperialist greed and barbaric, militant might.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
Vulture,
2 June 2026
Verb
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The video and the SCE data offer proof that the 100-year-old line, which hadn’t been used since the early 1970s, became re-electrified and sparked the fire that killed 19 people and destroyed thousands of homes in Altadena and surrounding areas, attorneys say.—
Tony Saavedra,
Daily News,
10 June 2026
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Now a national historic landmark, Iolani Palace has been restored to its former glory after almost 80 years of being used as a government building.—
Alia Beard Rau,
USA Today,
10 June 2026
Verb
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Moreover, the states often abused their authority, both over their own citizens and with regard to each other.—
Jordan Cash,
The Conversation,
8 June 2026
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One victim said he was abused by Pinkerton between July 2007 and July 2009.—
Adam Thompson,
CBS News,
8 June 2026
Verb
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There are limitations to the findings, but Theocheung believes they can be addressed when the current technology is leveraged appropriately.—
Wyles Daniel,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
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Again, consider events in Iran, where press reports suggest that Iran leveraged Chinese commercial companies’ satellite imagery to effectively target US military facilities throughout the Gulf.—
Michael P. Dempsey,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2026
Verb
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Benchmaxing, by contrast, is about the structural conditions under which the entire industry evaluates itself—and, the research argues, those conditions are routinely manipulated or ignored.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
8 June 2026
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With enough optimization and intervention, their argument goes, the body can be manipulated into becoming fully knowable, mastered, perfect.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Milked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/milked. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
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