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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Schiller is a man who cheated death and whose harrowing ordeal is dramatized by actor Tony Shalhoub in a recent movie.—
Troy Roberts,
CBS News,
8 Apr. 2026
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The chat room was on fire, because Magnus Carlsen had lost to the kid—Hans Niemann—and then implied that Hans had cheated.—
Ben Mezrich,
Vanity Fair,
6 Apr. 2026
Verb
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As a result, many consumers are feeling squeezed.—
Mike Winters,
CNBC,
10 Apr. 2026
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The only family in his murals was the one squeezed atop the lintel.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Ten miles away, members of the Navy's SEAL Team Six plucked the missing weapons system officer from the mountainside.—
Lucia I Suarez Sang,
CBS News,
7 Apr. 2026
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Deputies said the animals were tortured, mutilated, kept in coops with dead birds and live plucked.—
Timia Cobb,
Dallas Morning News,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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People have reported severe reactions, including anaphylaxis, after being stung by the ant.—
Julia Gomez,
USA Today,
9 Apr. 2026
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Anthropic leaks its code; Mercor stung by data breach.—
John Kell,
Fortune,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Vegas beat Florida in that series in 2023, and Quick shared a handshake with Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky when that matchup was over.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
14 Apr. 2026
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Before last week's first leg, Barcelona beat Atletico 2-1 in Madrid in a Spanish league game on April 4.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The lawsuit centers on a buying experience that left the customer feeling ripped off.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
9 Apr. 2026
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The driver’s side mirror was ripped off the car along with other car parts that were found in the roadway.—
Kristi Miller,
Twin Cities,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
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His family said Kearns was standing on solid ground before he was sucked into the drain and got stuck under five feet of floodwaters.—
Adam Thompson,
CBS News,
14 Apr. 2026
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Its first-stage booster made its 18th flight and stuck the landing without issue on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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In the previous plan for downtown baseball — a Royals move to the Crossroads District — Jackson County voters would have done the heaviest lifting.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
10 Apr. 2026
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Companies won’t need whole teams to coordinate in clunky, unproductive meetings; one AI with a few humans will get the job done cheaper and faster.—
Solo Ceesay,
Rolling Stone,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shaken down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shaken%20down. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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