fleece
Americannoun
-
fleeces
plural
-
the coat of wool that covers a sheep or a similar animal.
-
the wool shorn from a sheep at one shearing.
-
something resembling a fleece.
a fleece of clouds in a blue sky.
-
a fabric with a soft, silky pile, used for warmth, as for lining garments.
-
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
-
to deprive of money or belongings by fraud, hoax, or the like; swindle.
He fleeced the stranger of several dollars.
-
to remove the fleece of (a sheep).
-
to overspread, as with a fleece; fleck with fleecelike masses.
a host of clouds fleecing the summer sky.
noun
-
the coat of wool that covers the body of a sheep or similar animal and consists of a mass of crinkly hairs
-
the wool removed from a single sheep
-
something resembling a fleece in texture or warmth
-
sheepskin or a fabric with soft pile, used as a lining for coats, etc
-
a warm polyester fabric with a brushed nap, used for outdoor garments
-
a jacket or top made from such a fabric
verb
-
to defraud or charge exorbitantly; swindle
-
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fleecesimple
-
fleecessimple
-
have fleecedperfect
-
has fleecedperfect
-
am fleecingprogressive
-
are fleecingprogressive
-
is fleecingprogressive
-
have been fleecingperfect progressive
-
has been fleecingperfect progressive
Past
-
fleecedsimple
-
had fleecedperfect
-
was fleecingprogressive
-
were fleecingprogressive
-
had been fleecingperfect progressive
Future
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!
Vocabulary lists containing fleece
"The Odyssey," Vocabulary from Part 1 of the epic poem
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Mockingbird
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Hello, Universe
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Instead of leather, Krakoff is using faux suede, denim, fleece, canvas and other less expensive materials that help keep costs down and align better with Gap’s casual vibe.
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
"This type of fleece, which contains kemp," Bellis explains, "that will tend to go into a carpet blend because of the colour."
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
“I think something like Infinity Vision is a joke to fleece moviegoers into thinking they’re getting a premium experience when they’re really not,” Storch said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
Being completely covered by my purple fleece blanket under my bed or putting my head under the sofa cushion or reading my Dictionary.
From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine
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
She said the organisation had also come in handy for providing pants, trainers and shoes, as well as helping her to get the specific fleeces her special needs daughter required.
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2026
Gawaine, Agravaine and Gaheris were sitting on the fleeces, eating apples.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
So in March, he emailed the inmate he pinpointed as the one who fleeced Monk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 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
Related: ‘I have lost nearly everything’: My mother’s trustee changed her $1 million will and my attorney fleeced me.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 16, 2026
Williamson, who allegedly fleeced Becerra’s political kitty when she owned a government relations firm before joining Newsom’s staff, pleaded not guilty to bank and tax fraud charges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2025
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
“I started realizing that these DSOs are just fleecing the doctors, like totally taking advantage of them,” said Williams, who amplifies his objections by co-hosting the podcast Just Say No to the DSO.
From Slate ● Mar. 17, 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
Ippei Mizuhara’s fleecing of Shohei Ohtani was straightforward for the most part.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024
Burt employed bizarre accounting methods in order to conceal his fleecing of the Osage.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
