fleece

American  

[flees] / flis /

noun

• fleeces
  plural

1. 

   the coat of wool that covers a sheep or a similar animal.

2. the wool shorn from a sheep at one shearing.

3. something resembling a fleece.

   a fleece of clouds in a blue sky.

4. a fabric with a soft, silky pile, used for warmth, as for lining garments.

5. the soft nap or pile of such a fabric.

---

verb (used with object)

• fleeces,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fleeced,
  past participle,  past
• fleecing
  present participle

1. to deprive of money or belongings by fraud, hoax, or the like; swindle.

   He fleeced the stranger of several dollars.

2. to remove the fleece of (a sheep).

3. to overspread, as with a fleece; fleck with fleecelike masses.

   a host of clouds fleecing the summer sky.

fleece British  

/ fliːs /

noun

1. the coat of wool that covers the body of a sheep or similar animal and consists of a mass of crinkly hairs

2. the wool removed from a single sheep

3. something resembling a fleece in texture or warmth

4. sheepskin or a fabric with soft pile, used as a lining for coats, etc

5. a warm polyester fabric with a brushed nap, used for outdoor garments

6. a jacket or top made from such a fabric

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verb

1. to defraud or charge exorbitantly; swindle

2. another term for shear

Usage

What does fleece mean? Fleece is the outer coat of wool that covers a sheep, goat, llama, or similar animal, as in Wool made from a sheep’s fleece can be scratchy, but wool from llama’s fleece is soft and buttery. Fleece can also mean the wool collected from these animals or fabric made from it, as in Sheep farmers depend on getting good prices for recently cut fleeces to keep their farms going. Related to these senses, you can use fleece as a verb to mean shearing, or cutting, the wool off a sheep, as in The farmer’s son spent all morning fleecing the flock of sheep. Fleece also refers to fabrics or garments made from the fleece of an animal or a fabric that resembles the texture of a fleece. Coats and jackets made with polyester with a soft, silky pile are commonly referred to as fleeces. Finally, fleece is commonly used to mean cheating or swindling a person out of money, as in I was fleeced out of a hundred dollars this morning by a fake insurance salesman.  Example: Children always love touching the soft fleece of the llamas at the petting zoo.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fleecer
  noun
• fleeceable
  adjective
• fleeceless
  adjective
• fleecelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fleeces
  plural

Participles

• fleecing
  present
• fleeced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fleece
  simple
• fleeces
  simple
• have fleeced
  perfect
• has fleeced
  perfect
• am fleecing
  progressive
• are fleecing
  progressive
• is fleecing
  progressive
• have been fleecing
  perfect progressive
• has been fleecing
  perfect progressive

Past

• fleeced
  simple
• had fleeced
  perfect
• was fleecing
  progressive
• were fleecing
  progressive
• had been fleecing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fleece
  simple
• will have fleeced
  perfect
• will be fleecing
  progressive
• will have been fleecing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fleece

before 1000; Middle English flees, Old English flēos, flȳs; cognate with Middle Dutch vlies, Middle High German vlius, German Vlies

Explanation

A fleece is a sheep's coat. Or a goat's. Or a yak's. A person's coat can be called a fleece, too, if it comes from a sheep or goat or a yak or even if it just looks like it did. You can also use fleece in an informal way to mean cheating someone. Remember how Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow? Well, it was such a nice, clean fleece that Mary tricked the lamb into trusting her, then robbed him of his fleece and turned it into a bomber jacket and a pair of boots. She totally fleeced him!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fleece fleeces fleeced fleecing

Making bags from denim and fleece has its share of challenges.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

I have a fancier fleece blanket that should work nicely for Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s cape.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

But last month, he found himself permanently banned because of "fraudulent activity, such as selling counterfeit items" after listing a used North Face fleece.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

You’re not out to fleece anyone with egregiously high commissions or merely befriend another member because you want to flog the latest financial product.

From MarketWatch ● May 29, 2026

Miss Josie and Mr. Jeet sat on the brownstone stoop, a fleece blanket spread over their laps, keeping an eye on things.

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser

Prices reached a 10-year high earlier this year, and comes after some farmers burnt fleeces in protest against how little they were being paid.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

Homeowners struggle to get a permit to add a bedroom, and taxpayers can’t get through to the agency that fleeces them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

A federal judge shows how this hospital ‘discount’ fleeces drug makers and patients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026

Every year the programme receives around 35,000 applications from people who want to don the famous red and blue fleeces, to see if they can spot a bargain and make a profit.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2025

“Down there near the riverbank,” she said, “where the bushes grow thick, are sheep with fleeces of gold. Go fetch me some of their shining wool.”

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

There’s a big industry built around the secondhand market, and if you look in the right places, you can find a good deal without getting fleeced.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

As an example of money wasted by LAHSA’s lack of financial controls, Turner cited the recent federal indictment alleging a homeless services provider fleeced the system of $23 million in fraudulent billings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

No revolutionary, Wood writes, “defended with more vehemence common ordinary people against the aristocracy—‘against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and cloathed like swine and hounds.’

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

The Football Supporters' Association has said that fans are being "fleeced" as a result of Fifa's ticketing strategy.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

It was instead that an ominous picture was congealing in his mind of patriot soldiers being fleeced by an army of speculators whose only loyalty was to their own profit margins.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

You might say that fleecing California’s cradle-to-grave state is like taking candy from a baby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

“These groups have been fleecing taxpayers and Veterans for far too long,” VA Secretary Doug Collins was quoted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026

The fleecing of Kevin, who ProPublica agreed to identify by first name only, was a textbook example of pig butchering.

From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025

This revenue share is for all media—not just books—but illustrates the extreme financial incentive prisons have to participate with prison telecom companies in this fleecing of incarcerated people.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2024

Burt employed bizarre accounting methods in order to conceal his fleecing of the Osage.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• cheat
• defraud
• gouge
• overcharge
• swindle