as in exploited
to take unfair advantage of
unscrupulous people trying to milk the welfare system for all it's worth
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 milked
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
For a while, the Klussendorfs milked their cows on a neighboring farm that had been empty for years.
—Rick Barrett, jsonline.com, 11 Aug. 2025
But strangely, when the researchers milked the well cows with contaminated equipment—the way the virus was assumed to be spreading on farms—the healthy cows did not fall ill.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 5 Aug. 2025
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
For a while, the Klussendorfs milked their cows on a neighboring farm that had been empty for years.
—Rick Barrett, jsonline.com, 11 Aug. 2025
But strangely, when the researchers milked the well cows with contaminated equipment—the way the virus was assumed to be spreading on farms—the healthy cows did not fall ill.
—Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for milked
Verb
-
Much more damning, however, was the manner in which Wrexham’s shortcomings were brutally exploited during what proved to be the club’s biggest home loss since Gateshead ran riot to triumph 7-2 at The Racecourse Ground in 2011.—
Richard Sutcliffe,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Nevertheless, rumors about Altman’s personal life have been exploited and distorted by competitors.—
Ronan Farrow,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
With Brooklyn’s injury list still swallowing half the rotation and the draft lottery picture tightening by the day, Liddell used Tuesday night as a personal argument.—
C.J. Holmes,
New York Daily News,
8 Apr. 2026
-
The lawsuit claims that Missouri lawmakers used no rational basis to categorize which counties qualified for a 5% cap, a freeze or neither.—
Jenna Ebbers,
Kansas City Star,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Kaley denied being abused or neglected, though Meta’s attorneys did show some Instagram posts about her mother screaming at her.—
Jeannie Suk Gersen,
New Yorker,
9 Apr. 2026
-
Leah Juliett, also a survivor, still remembers the scarlet lockers at Wolcott High School where she was abused.—
Livi Stanford,
Hartford Courant,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
In recent years, Middle East funds have leveraged their trillion-dollar valuations to take stakes in a range of sports, media and tech properties.—
Dade Hayes,
Deadline,
7 Apr. 2026
-
Hackers have already leveraged Anthropic’s tools to enable more sophisticated and autonomous attacks.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Additionally, advanced signal-processing techniques can help identify whether messages are genuinely coming from different sources or are being manipulated by a single malicious actor.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Apr. 2026
-
During this time, Duggar manipulated the victim’s underwear and grazed her genitals.—
Assistant Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Milked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/milked. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
