ill-gotten gains


Benefits obtained in an evil manner or by dishonest means, as in They duped their senile uncle into leaving them a fortune and are now enjoying their ill-gotten gains. [Mid-1800s]

Words Nearby ill-gotten gains

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use ill-gotten gains in a sentence

  • I daresay he expected to settled down and die in the odour of sanctity, surrounded by his ill-gotten gains.

    The Pagan's Cup | Fergus Hume
  • This guilty man, hugging to himself the knowledge of his crime and his ill-gotten gains, had found the burden too heavy to bear.

    Bucholz and the Detectives | Allan Pinkerton
  • The pirut rapidly approached, chucklin with fiendish delight at the idee of increasin his ill-gotten gains.

    The Complete Works of Artemus Ward | Charles Farrar Browne (AKA Artemus Ward)