as in gangsters
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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of racketeers
Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 5 Mar. 2026
When Ferrara was starting out, private investment in low-budget films was spurred by tax loopholes, a way for doctors, dentists, and racketeers to get rid of extra cash that would otherwise wind up in Uncle Sam’s grubby mitts.
—Nick Pinkerton, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
Noun
The characters were based on a real family of bookmakers and racketeers who once lived in England.
—Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 5 Mar. 2026
When Ferrara was starting out, private investment in low-budget films was spurred by tax loopholes, a way for doctors, dentists, and racketeers to get rid of extra cash that would otherwise wind up in Uncle Sam’s grubby mitts.
—Nick Pinkerton, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for racketeers
Noun
-
American gangsters ran the hotels and the gambling.—
Joseph J. Gonzalez,
The Conversation,
23 Mar. 2026
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Kelly spends the first half of his book running through a who’s who of the New England underworld, gangsters and mob wannabes who likely came into contact with the art before the investigation reached Maine and Gentile.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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No government masked thugs shooting down our neighbors in the streets.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
28 Mar. 2026
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Suddenly Odin gets a call telling him Korps leader Attila (Eili Harboe) and her thugs are on their way to finish the job.—
K.J. Yossman,
Variety,
27 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Eager to have his cake and eat it too, Benedict blackmails Sophie into taking a job with his mother.—
Savannah Walsh,
Vanity Fair,
30 Jan. 2026
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Donald wins the governor’s race, but Lee blackmails him into signing over his family’s land to the Osage Nation in memory of his late brother.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
10 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Despite paying off blackmailers and marrying Lady Olivia Hedges (Danielle Galligan) to protect his secret, Arthur still loses his father’s Parliament seat after getting caught committing election fraud.—
Lynsey Eidell,
PEOPLE,
27 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The owners will be pushing for a salary cap, and the players for some sort of mechanism that forces the bottom-end teams to spend more, like a salary floor.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
28 Mar. 2026
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When the 25-day storage wall forces a pipeline to stop, the system begins to degrade immediately.—
Siddharth Misra,
Fortune,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
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These kinds of sweeping outages are typically the result either of ransomware attacks, where online extortionists paralyse corporate networks in the hope of payment, or deliberate sabotage.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
20 Sep. 2025
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These kinds of sweeping outages are typically the result either of ransomware attacks, where online extortionists paralyze corporate networks in the hope of payment, or deliberate digital sabotage.—
Reuters,
CNN Money,
20 Sep. 2025
Verb
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One year later, the XFL muscles its way onto the national sports scene with its first two games.—
Assistant Sports Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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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
Verb
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Businesses are either forced to absorb rising input costs, which pressures profit margins, or pass them through to clients, which adds to inflationary pressures.—
Paulina Likos,Zev Fima,
CNBC,
27 Mar. 2026
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The caller pressures you to stay on the line and discourages you from contacting anyone else.—
Maria Salette Ontiveros,
Dallas Morning News,
3 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Racketeers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racketeers. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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