as in stung
to charge (someone) too much for goods or services
since I had forgotten the sunscreen, I was forced to buy it from the concession stand at the beach—where they gouged me for it
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Recent Examples of gouged
After getting gouged repeatedly by bootleg play-action passes, screens and space plays over their first two series, the Pats struck back with a short-yardage stop and forced fumble on the next two series.
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Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 6 Jan. 2026
At Dia, the cage has been reconstructed in full, complete with Hsieh’s boots and his tally marks gouged into the wall.
—Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2025
Successive hurricanes had gouged a hole in the Sunshine State, leaving several private carriers insolvent — and leaving hundreds of thousands of their customers with no choice but Citizens.
—Mario Ariza, ProPublica, 15 Sep. 2025
But a low spot in the ocean, a channel gouged down into the sand on the ocean surface, or a break in a sandbar, can disrupt that flow and push water through the spot to create a current much more powerful than the surrounding flow.
—Jennifer Borresen, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2025
The greedy people will get theirs when people get fed up with being gouged at every turn.
—Ticked Off, The Orlando Sentinel, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gouged
Verb
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Tuesday’s loss in Orlando stung a little more for the Miami Heat than the usual December loss during a long 82-game regular season.—
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But still, some losses have stung harder than others.—
Verb
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The tension resurfaced when her sister discovered her partner had cheated again and asked to stay at the poster’s home with both children.—
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Every town has its nostalgic spots—ice cream shops, deli counters, old-school diners—that seem to have cheated time.—
Verb
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After the Boynton Beach location changed hands in 2021, the new owners discovered that insurance companies had been billed and over 80 patients had been charged for work that was not performed or overcharged, according to the affidavit, many of them 65 or older.—
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Thermal runaway, or self-heating, can occur without warning in lithium batteries as a result of various factors, including if the battery is damaged, overheated, exposed to water, overcharged or improperly packed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.—
Verb
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California has zero areas of abnormal dryness for the first time in 25 years after an exceptionally wet holiday season soaked the state.—
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The heavy rain soaked the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in 20 years, canceling the on-field pregame show.—
Cite this Entry
“Gouged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gouged. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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