as in gangster
a person who gets money from another by using force or threats
the racketeer threatened to have his thugs vandalize the shop if the shopkeeper didn't pay him a monthly bribe
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as in to blackmail
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of racketeer
Ira Trivedi, Foreign Affairs, 7 Aug. 2015
Parts of the city turned into wastelands of racketeers and alcoholics.
—Simon Shuster, TIME, 4 Jan. 2024
Justin Kaufmann, Axios, 8 Oct. 2024
In 1994, Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband, pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to racketeering for his part in the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in exchange for a 24-month sentence and a $100,000 fine.
—Lorenzino Estrada, The Arizona Republic, 12 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for racketeer
Noun
She was arrested and charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, usually reserved for drug racketeers and smugglers running large operations.
—Verb
Zoom in: Madigan is charged with 23 counts ranging from racketeering conspiracy to a host of other crimes.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for racketeer
Noun
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In 1932 Chicago police raided an apparent summit meeting of gangsters, and arrested Lansky and five others on vagrancy charges.—
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Russian gangsters, grenades, terrorist plots, amnesia, and the idyllic Maine coastline all make an appearance.—
Noun
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Jesse, understandably, has become more defensive about antisemitism since he was brutally attacked by thugs who singled him out for being Jewish.—
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The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN.—
Verb
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He’s accused of extorting and defrauding a 72-year-old Newton woman out of more than $480,000.—
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Several public schools reported days ago that they were being extorted by criminals, prompting them to propose virtual classes, according to state television station TV Perú.—
Verb
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With the release of Season 3’s first three episode, Prime Video’s Reacher easily muscled its way back onto Nielsen’s U.S. ranking of streaming originals.—
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Johnson succeeds in jamming Schumer Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) set the tone for this week’s shutdown showdown, unveiling the stopgap Saturday, selling it to his conference Monday and muscling it through his razor-thin majority Tuesday.—
Verb
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She was sentenced in federal court in Boston to four years in prison for charges of coercing people to engage in prostitution and money laundering conspiracy.—
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Experts say this is a potentially serious counterintelligence problem that could allow foreign intelligence services to gain insight into a target’s social network or even identify individuals who could be paid or coerced to act against them.—
Verb
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Her story forced the country to confront a flawed legal system and the cultural discomfort with women who challenged it.—
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Learning to slow down was important because playing and touring almost non-stop for a decade forced us to not do so well at managing our (bodies and lives), which led to us all burning ourselves out.—
Verb
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Besides supplemental duties totaling 20% on Chinese goods, Trump has suspended other menaced tariffs on Canada and Mexico.—
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Battling invasive species in the Great Lakes A third important aspect of NOAA’s coastal work involves controlling invasive species in America’s waters, including those that have menaced the Great Lakes.—
Cite this Entry
“Racketeer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/racketeer. Accessed 7 Apr. 2025.
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