Ponzi

American

[pon-zee] / ˈpɒn zi /

noun

a swindle in which a quick return, made up of money from new investors, on an initial investment lures the victim into much bigger risks.

Etymology

Origin of Ponzi

After Charles Ponzi (died 1949), the organizer of such a scheme in the U.S., 1919–20

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:

Ponzi

You’ll get to listen to convicted Ponzi schemer Paul Regan systematically probing clients for their psychological weaknesses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

In the 1990s, John Bennett and his New Era Philanthropy, a Ponzi scheme, bilked an ex-U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

The cattle empire that turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026

How do I know that my money is safe with my financial adviser and feel sure they are not running a Madoff-type Ponzi scheme?

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026

They had the essential feature of a Ponzi scheme: To maintain the fiction that they were profitable enterprises, they needed more and more capital to create more and more subprime loans.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023