as in cheated
to rob by the use of trickery or threats
swindlers who use the telephone to fleece senior citizens out of their savings
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Recent Examples of fleeced
Their false claims about getting financially fleeced by Uncle Sam were fueled by a rather sophisticated, albeit deceitful and shameful lobbying campaign, sponsored by greedy gadflies out to make a quick buck.
—
Tom Margenau, Dallas Morning News, 1 Feb. 2026
Zach Harper basically wrote that Atlanta got fleeced here, though.
—Chris Branch, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2026
So how does a front office this wary of getting fleeced tackle a deadline in which they’re meant to be major players?
—Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 2 Jan. 2026
Donovan writes—the perception that men were being fleeced persisted.
—Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
And scores of those victims were fleeced by scammers inside stores owned by Circle K, one of the crypto ATM industry’s biggest corporate partners.
—Curt Devine, CNN Money, 17 Dec. 2025
The mobsters are accused of pocketing some of the $7 million that was fleeced from unsuspecting victims who were drawn to poker tables in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and Long Island’s seaside playground for the rich and famous.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.
—Colin Meyn, The Hill, 24 Oct. 2025
All the trucks that Buck Strickland buys his investors in episode 10 are from Bronco Barry’s car dealership, which fleeced Bobby into buying a horse a few episodes earlier.
—Jake Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Aug. 2025
Tom Margenau, Dallas Morning News, 1 Feb. 2026
Zach Harper basically wrote that Atlanta got fleeced here, though.
—Chris Branch, New York Times, 8 Jan. 2026
So how does a front office this wary of getting fleeced tackle a deadline in which they’re meant to be major players?
—Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 2 Jan. 2026
Donovan writes—the perception that men were being fleeced persisted.
—Jennifer Wilson, New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2025
And scores of those victims were fleeced by scammers inside stores owned by Circle K, one of the crypto ATM industry’s biggest corporate partners.
—Curt Devine, CNN Money, 17 Dec. 2025
The mobsters are accused of pocketing some of the $7 million that was fleeced from unsuspecting victims who were drawn to poker tables in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and Long Island’s seaside playground for the rich and famous.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 25 Oct. 2025
Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.
—Colin Meyn, The Hill, 24 Oct. 2025
All the trucks that Buck Strickland buys his investors in episode 10 are from Bronco Barry’s car dealership, which fleeced Bobby into buying a horse a few episodes earlier.
—Jake Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fleeced
Verb
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McMann hunted, but never cheated, for offence.—
Joshua Kloke,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
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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
Verb
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Over at Azur on Luminara, the menu reinvents itself every two days to mirror the port of call, like someone plucked the best taverna dishes off the coast and casually plated them in front of you.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 Feb. 2026
-
This is ideal for decades of sliding across the ice, because bigger mineral grains are more likely to get plucked out by the ice, leaving holes in the surface that could cause unpredictable behavior.—
Andrea Thompson,
Scientific American,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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His attacker, the man in black, was hustled off the stage.—
Anderson Cooper,
CBS News,
9 Feb. 2026
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As the lights came up, Taylor had already been hustled out, as had Arnaud.—
Eve Batey,
Vanity Fair,
7 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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In an ecosystem squeezed by the brutal economics of streaming and the continuing struggles of the theatrical model, far too many worthy films go unsold and unseen.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Feb. 2026
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Tens of billions of dollars in corporate loans are likely to default over the next year as companies, especially software and data services firms owned by private equity, get squeezed by the AI threat, Mish said in a Wednesday research note.—
Hugh Son,
CNBC,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Was Tony Kiritsis really screwed out of a legitimate business deal?—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
5 Feb. 2026
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Basically, our government helped the rich get richer while working families got screwed.—
Ana María Archila,
New York Daily News,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The investors' attorneys said about $46 million of the money the pair swindled from their investors went to pay for expensive cars.—
Steffanie Dupree,
CBS News,
29 Jan. 2026
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John Tamahere McCabe, 42, swindled the money by falsely promising to sell the 79-year-old victim’s yacht for him and by taking out unauthorized loans against his Irvine condominium.—
Sean Emery,
Oc Register,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The crucial employment snapshot is slightly delayed because of the brief government shutdown and will show whether the trajectory improved for the US labor market, which has been stuck in a low-hire and low-fire lull.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
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Meanwhile, a high-speed rail proposal between Dallas and Fort Worth is stuck in limbo, stemming from objections to where a route would connect in Dallas, per KERA.—
Sasha Richie,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fleeced.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fleeced. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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