What does "profiteer" mean?

One who makes an unreasonable profit not justified by cost or risk, a rent-seeker.

What is a synonym for "profiteer"?

Common synonyms include: blackmailer, bleed, bleed white, bloodsucker, clip, exploit.

Pronounced //ˌpɹɒfɪˈtɪə(ɹ)//.

//ˌpɹɒfɪˈtɪə(ɹ)// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
One who makes an unreasonable profit not justified by cost or risk, a rent-seeker. derogatory
2
someone who makes excessive profit (especially on goods in short supply) wordnet

Verb

1
To make an unreasonable profit not justified by cost or risk.
2
make an unreasonable profit, as on the sale of difficult to obtain goods wordnet

"Anyone who increases his wealth in time of war is a war profiteer."

From profit + -eer.

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