pyramid scheme

American

[pir-uh-mid skeem] / ˈpɪr ə mɪd ˌskim /

noun

any moneymaking scheme, usually illicit, in which each participating investor recruits others and then collects from what those invest, so that an ever-increasing number of participants generate more and more profit for those who recruited them.

She invited me to talk about a new "business opportunity," and ended up trying aggressively to hook me into a pyramid scheme.

Etymology

Origin of pyramid scheme

First recorded in 1945–50

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.

Such is their desperation they don’t quite allow themselves to see this is a fairly basic pyramid scheme that depends on fresh blood — and their bank accounts — to keep the Wheel turning.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2025

A classic example would be people in a pyramid scheme targeting fellow members of their church.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2024

Officials say OneCoin, which was founded in 2014 in Bulgaria, functioned as a global pyramid scheme.

From BBC • Sep. 12, 2023

A third is a federal class action initiated back in 2018 over an alleged pyramid scheme to defraud investors before he became president in 2016.

From Slate • Aug. 2, 2023

Intricate webs of village and family loyalties were tested to the limit in affairs such as TAT, the collapse of a savings bank in a pyramid scheme in which some top level officials were implicated.

From After the Rain : how the West lost the East by Vaknin, Samuel

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