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
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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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For his inspiration, Trump points to a mood board that includes, among other images, photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Star Wars‘ powerful gangster Jabba the Hutt.—
Natalie Oganesyan,
Deadline,
1 Nov. 2025
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His buddy Truffaut even has an idea about a would-be French gangster who gets into hot water, based roughly on the true-crime tabloid story of Michel Portail.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The hack may have been seeking to blackmail Bolton.—
Aysha Bagchi,
USA Today,
23 Oct. 2025
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Meanwhile, a manipulative judge, Roland Brack (Nicholas Pinnock), lurks around the fringes, hoping to seduce or even blackmail the electrically attractive Hedda.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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No thug could hurt Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini)—North Jersey mob boss and sufferer of panic attacks—like his own family.—
John Ortved,
Vogue,
29 Oct. 2025
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This haunting film was also his first collaboration with Hellboy’s Ron Perlman, who plays a thug out to get the beetle for his rich uncle.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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But hiring off-duty cops to intimidate and extort victims, or throw them in jail, represented a significant escalation.—
Jesse Hyde,
Rolling Stone,
21 Oct. 2025
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Second, the numbers being shared are incorrect and part of an attempt to extort a payment from Discord.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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Things get complicated when Shay recruits the neighborhood creep for backup and Yaki brings in an ex-cop to smoke out his blackmailer.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Pfizer is muscling up in the slimdown fight.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
30 Oct. 2025
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Gringo Films does not sound like the kind of company that muscles its way into the global animation business.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The place is the Savin Bar + Kitchen, in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, where immediately inside the front door, patrons are greeted by a larger-than-life framed mugshot of Bulger — the mob-boss, murderer, bank robber, drug dealer and extortionist — peering cooly out from under his fedora.—
Tovia Smith,
NPR,
24 Oct. 2025
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Although the murderers are often characters with redeeming qualities, Nolan Hurst (David Cross) is more sympathetic than most, and his killing of toy store manager/part-time extortionist Patrick Palmer (Drew Seltzer) is an unpremeditated act of desperation, not the settling of a score.—
Sophie Brookover,
Vulture,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Detectives even allegedly coerced Rosie into signing a document implicating Frank Jordano and his father, Iorlando Jordano.—
Emily Blackwood,
PEOPLE,
2 Nov. 2025
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Xi will likely continue using Beijing’s stranglehold on critical minerals to coerce the United States and others.—
Mira Rapp-Hooper,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Racketeer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racketeer. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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