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swindle

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To get by fraudulent or deceitful methods.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

swinduhl

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈswɪndəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. ambitransitive

    To obtain (money or property) by fraudulent or deceitful methods.

  2. transitive

    To defraud.

noun

  1. The act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme

  2. An instance of swindling.

  3. Anything that is deceptively not what it appears to be.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Rare
Typical Use
Primarily written

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (ambitransitive) To obtain (money or property) by fraudulent or deceitful methods.

Used this way, swindle is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Gentle
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Critical but measured

Nearby words

  • mulct , rarer, so it draws attention

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use swindle

  • “He swindled me out of my inheritance.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

oil swindlegreat swindleland swindleinsurance swindlevatican swindle

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to obtain (money or property) by fraudulent

defraudmulctRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.