as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
the rumor is that he started his career shaking people down as an enforcer for the mob
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Recent Examples of shaken down
Law firms are shaken down into submission.
—
Christopher Bouzy, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
Christopher Bouzy, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shaken down
Verb
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Experts say such scam operations in Cambodia and elsewhere have cheated people around the world out of billions of dollars and tricked people from many countries to work in them under slave-like conditions.—
Sakchai Lalit,
Los Angeles Times,
3 Feb. 2026
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Those very few still alive believe to this day that they are being cheated out of Social Security benefits.—
Tom Margenau,
Dallas Morning News,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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As the continents sheared and twisted unevenly, local forces squeezed together thin ribbons of crust and popped them up like geological meerkats, isolating and slicing them off.—
Evan Howell,
Scientific American,
4 Feb. 2026
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Walmart had become the poster child of the big bad corporation that underpaid its workers, squeezed its suppliers and tore at the fabric of small-town America.—
Evan Clark,
Footwear News,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Mornings begin at your own pace with homemade granola and shakshuka before heartier lunches and dinners of chicken tagine, lamb kebabs and roasted eggplant with colourful zesty salads mostly plucked from the on-site vegetable garden.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
6 Feb. 2026
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There’s also Liège waffles ($10), plucked from the Good Neighbor dessert menu, and playful milkshakes ($10) and smoothies ($11) that can be made boozy for an additional $6.—
Sean Timberlake,
Sacbee.com,
5 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The loss certainly stung for Maye.—
Greg Dudek,
Hartford Courant,
9 Feb. 2026
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One pocket of tech that has faced a lot of pressure have been software firms, with the shares of companies like SAP, Salesforce, and ServiceNow all stung the last six months, as Reuters reports, because of rising fears that AI could disrupt their business models.—
John Kell,
Fortune,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Patriots fans perhaps envisioned a repeat of Super Bowl LI in 2017, when Tom Brady led the Patriots back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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Two Nadiem Amiri penalties were enough for Mainz to beat Augsburg 2-0.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Golden State finally ripped off the Jonathan Kuminga bandage, sending him to Atlanta for Kristaps Porzingis, a high-upside center whose biggest obstacle is his inability to stay on the court.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
6 Feb. 2026
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But when her veil is ripped off from behind, everyone on set gasps as her head goes with it.—
Sydney Bucksbaum,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Between mortgage rates stuck for most of the year well above 6%, insurance costs that shocked homeowners, and the rapid development of AI tools that can value your property in seconds, the housing market has been anything but predictable.—
Tribune News Service,
Baltimore Sun,
3 Feb. 2026
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When the novel opens in Florence, in 1557, the body of the painter Jacopo da Pontormo lies in the chapel of San Lorenzo—in front of the frescoes he’d labored over for a decade, with a painter’s chisel stuck in his heart.—
Bekah Waalkes,
The Atlantic,
3 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Meanwhile, Cramer said DuPont’s earnings report that same day should highlight how great of a job CEO Lori Koch has done to improve the chemicals company.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
7 Feb. 2026
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Because no permit was requested, the city wasn't aware that there were repairs done on the property and therefore did not evaluate or approve the work.—
Gillian Stawiszynski,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
7 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shaken down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shaken%20down. Accessed 10 Feb. 2026.
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