as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
charged that the used-car dealer had been shorting customers for years
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of shorted
Still, the trades raised some eyebrows because whoever purchased a large amount of stock futures and sold or shorted crude futures at that moment made a lot of money just minutes later.
—
Yun Li, CNBC, 23 Mar. 2026
Online and in congressional hearings, Tenev was accused of aiding hedge funds that had shorted GameStop, at amateur traders’ expense.
—Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 13 Mar. 2026
Crowley alleged that her department had been shorted money needed to improve fire responses.
—Dan Walters, Oc Register, 4 Mar. 2026
Those who shorted the provocation phase got crushed by the pivot.
—Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
The initial claim from Nebraska was scant on details about how much water is being shorted to Nebraska users.
—The Denver Post Editorial Board, Denver Post, 28 Oct. 2025
Electric telegraph lines across Europe and the Americas shorted out.
—Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
Due to its sharp increase of votes for Tarrant County College, all the other taxing entities were shorted the number of votes they are entitled to, Barnes said.
—Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Oct. 2025
The water shorted his air conditioning unit.
—Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 15 Sep. 2025
Yun Li, CNBC, 23 Mar. 2026
Online and in congressional hearings, Tenev was accused of aiding hedge funds that had shorted GameStop, at amateur traders’ expense.
—Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 13 Mar. 2026
Crowley alleged that her department had been shorted money needed to improve fire responses.
—Dan Walters, Oc Register, 4 Mar. 2026
Those who shorted the provocation phase got crushed by the pivot.
—Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 22 Jan. 2026
The initial claim from Nebraska was scant on details about how much water is being shorted to Nebraska users.
—The Denver Post Editorial Board, Denver Post, 28 Oct. 2025
Electric telegraph lines across Europe and the Americas shorted out.
—Literary Hub, 27 Oct. 2025
Due to its sharp increase of votes for Tarrant County College, all the other taxing entities were shorted the number of votes they are entitled to, Barnes said.
—Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Oct. 2025
The water shorted his air conditioning unit.
—Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 15 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shorted
Verb
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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
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Paul Bearman isn’t the type to just move on after he’s been cheated.—
Rich Schapiro,
NBC news,
3 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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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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Also in that story is a look at how the Padres catchers are balancing their offensive and defensive duties, and Jeff hustled out to the box seats atop the Green Monster to talk to the Padres fan who caught Machado’s homer.—
Kevin Acee,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Apr. 2026
-
The dads and sons hustled to a nearby dirt patch.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Santos stung a volley from outside the box midway through the second half after juggling the ball with her knee, but Silkowitz dived to her right to push the ball wide of the post.—
Michael Nowels,
Mercury News,
5 Apr. 2026
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Anyone who is stung repeatedly or has trouble breathing should call 911.—
Rey Covarrubias Jr,
AZCentral.com,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Semi-screwed There’s a world in which Colby was the most screwed over by the rock draw — because Dee and Emily are friends who already played together, and both were aligned with Cirie — but that world is one in which he was not injured and likely limping out of the game anyway.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 Apr. 2026
-
A lot of times, much of a Hollywood memoir is someone saying this person screwed me over, this bad thing happened, and so on.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
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That mindset, which teachers would sometimes unwittingly perpetuate, was keeping kids stuck.—
Megan Molteni,
STAT,
7 Apr. 2026
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This helps avoid the common problem of getting stuck in the pilot phase, a challenge facing many companies, a recent report by Deloitte found.—
Francesca Cassidy,
Fortune,
7 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shorted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shorted. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
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