SWINDLE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swindle mean? 

• SWINDLE (noun)
  The noun SWINDLE has 1 sense:

1. the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme

  Familiarity information: SWINDLE used as a noun is very rare.

• SWINDLE (verb)
  The verb SWINDLE has 1 sense:

1. deprive of by deceit

  Familiarity information: SWINDLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWINDLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

cheat; rig; swindle

Context example:

that book is a fraud

Hypernyms ("swindle" is a kind of...):

fraud (intentional deception resulting in injury to another person)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "swindle"):

cozenage; scam (a fraudulent business scheme)

bunco; bunco game; bunko; bunko game; con; con game; confidence game; confidence trick; flimflam; hustle; sting (a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property)

gip; gyp ((sometimes offensive) an act of swindling or cheating)

pyramiding (a fraudulent business practice involving some form of pyramid scheme e.g., the chain of distribution is artificially expanded by an excessive number of distributors selling to other distributors at progressively higher wholesale prices until retail prices are unnecessarily inflated)

holdout (the act of hiding playing cards in a gambling game so they are available for personal use later)

swiz (British slang for a swindle)

shell game; thimblerig (a swindling sleight-of-hand game; victim guesses which of three things a pellet is under)

Derivation:

swindle (deprive of by deceit)

• SWINDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they swindle    ... he / she / it swindles   
Past simple: swindled   
Past participle: swindled   
-ing form: swindling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deprive of by deceit

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bunco; con; defraud; diddle; goldbrick; hornswoggle; mulct; nobble; rook; scam; short-change; swindle; victimize

Context example:

She defrauded the customers who trusted her

Hypernyms (to "swindle" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "swindle"):

short; short-change (cheat someone by not returning him enough money)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Sentence example:

They swindle him of all his money

Derivation:

swindle (the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme)

swindler (a person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud)

 Context examples 

He determines to swindle his creditors, and for this purpose he pays large checks to a certain Mr. Cornelius, who is, I imagine, himself under another name.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Makin' free to spit out what's in me," Matt said one day, "I beg to state that you was a wise guy all right when you paid the price you did for that dog. You clean swindled Beauty Smith on top of pushin' his face in with your fist."

(White Fang, by Jack London)