noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The practice of extorting money or other property by the use of force or threats.

   "Heck, what's a little extortion among friends?"

2. 2
   the felonious act of extorting money (as by threats of violence) wordnet
3. 3
   unjust exaction (as by the misuse of authority) wordnet
4. 4
   an exorbitant charge wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

blackmailarmed robberyasportationassault and robberybadger gamebanditry

Example

More examples

"Tom was the victim of an extortion attempt."

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman extorcion, extorcioun, extorsioun, from Late Latin extortiō, from extorqueō.

Related phrases

cryptoviral extortiondouble extortion

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.