as in gangster
a person who gets money from another by using force or threats
the racketeer threatened to have his thugs vandalize the shop if the shopkeeper didn't pay him a monthly bribe
Synonyms & Similar Words
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as in to blackmail
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of racketeer
Michael Cuby, Them, 1 Aug. 2024
While President Herbert Hoover had waged a war against kidnappers and racketeers, Roosevelt amplified the effort dramatically, pushed it in new directions, and overcame the jurisdictional, racial, partisan, and class divisions that had previously obstructed the law-and-order state.
—Anthony Gregory / Made By History, TIME, 23 July 2024
Muri Assunção, New York Daily News, 13 Dec. 2024
Three co-defendants accepted plea deals earlier this week on racketeering conspiracy charges and were sentenced to probation and time served.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 31 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for racketeer
Noun
Oh yeah, this relationship with this 38-year-old racketeer is so beautiful.
—Michael Cuby, Them, 1 Aug. 2024
While President Herbert Hoover had waged a war against kidnappers and racketeers, Roosevelt amplified the effort dramatically, pushed it in new directions, and overcame the jurisdictional, racial, partisan, and class divisions that had previously obstructed the law-and-order state.
—Anthony Gregory / Made By History, TIME, 23 July 2024
Verb
Conahan pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges.
—Muri Assunção, New York Daily News, 13 Dec. 2024
Three co-defendants accepted plea deals earlier this week on racketeering conspiracy charges and were sentenced to probation and time served.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 31 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for racketeer
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racketeer
Noun
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The gangster drama began airing on BBC Two in the UK in 2013, and debuted on Netflix a year later.—
Zac Ntim,
Deadline,
19 Feb. 2026
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The sequel finds the notorious gangster back in Birmingham in 1940, racing to save his son.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Decades before, Monroe was blackmailed by the CIA into becoming a mole in Zapata's Mexico City operation.—
Allison DeGrushe,
Entertainment Weekly,
20 Feb. 2026
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These creations are doing things their makers can’t explain, including blackmailing, lying, refusing to shut down and telling kids how to commit suicide.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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In a season 3 teaser, Peter saves Suraj Sharma's Jay Batra from some thugs at a soccer stadium.—
Randall Colburn,
Entertainment Weekly,
19 Feb. 2026
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Foucauld had later left the army to become a Trappist monk and had established himself as a missionary in Tamanrasset, Algeria, in the middle of the Sahara Desert; he was killed there by local thugs in 1916.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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There had been tension between Bo Nagar’s force and the local PDF units since last year over his BNRA fighters allegedly extorting money at road checkpoints.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 Feb. 2026
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Nicole Curtis, the former HGTV star whose Rehab Addict show was canceled after a video surfaced of her using a racial slur, is now claiming she was being extorted.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
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In Season 2, eager to take on another big undercover case, Charles Nieuwendyk (Danson) gets his chance when a mysterious blackmailer targets Wheeler College president Jack Berenger (Max Greenfield), who enlists Charles to go undercover as a professor.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
3 Feb. 2026
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Although the threat of death was everywhere in this show, the list of actual deaths is relatively short and the majority had to do with the anonymous blackmailer and the secrets and lies built around Alison’s fake death.—
Catherine Mhloyi,
Them.,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The Gulf, and the world beyond, favors dealing with a strong ruler who can muscle his way through necessary reforms unlike, say, the situation in neighboring Lebanon.—
Alaa Shahine Salha,
semafor.com,
16 Feb. 2026
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The clinic has developed a proprietary algorithm, the Tulah Life Index, which aggregates metrics ranging from gut health to muscle mass into a single score out of 100.—
Mark Ellwood,
Robb Report,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Several customers, a Miami-Dade judge and now the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services say Thompson’s a fraudulent, bait-and-switch extortionist.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
6 Feb. 2026
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Nike depicts Total90 as an extortionist.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
2 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Meyers is also accused of coercing the 15-year-old into recording the high school’s wrestling team, the complaint alleges.—
Brittany Kubicko,
NBC news,
20 Feb. 2026
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Guevara and two colleagues, Mason and then-Detective Ernest Halvorson, orchestrated a frame-up by coercing one witness to identify Rios by beating him with a phone book and flashlight, and another by threatening to charge him with obstruction, according to the plaintiffs’ allegations.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Racketeer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racketeer. Accessed 27 Feb. 2026.
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