racketeer
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
- racketeering noun
Etymology
Origin of racketeer
Explanation
A racketeer is a criminal, especially one who's involved in organized white collar crime or dishonest business dealings. If a lawyer embezzles money from her clients, she is a racketeer. Racketeers commit crimes in order to make money for themselves. In many cases, a racketeer is a business owner or professional who falsifies financial records to hide income or bills clients for more than they owe. A racket is a scam or fake service that's run by a racketeer — and the crime itself, if the racketeer is caught, is called racketeering. The source of all three words is thought to be racquet, and the idea of a scam as a "game."
Vocabulary lists containing racketeer
1984
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Vocabulary from the Third and Final Presidential Debate, October 19, 2016
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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.
An alleged Chinese racketeer linked to a hugely lucrative scam hub in Myanmar was extradited from Thailand to China on Wednesday, a police official in Bangkok told AFP.
From Barron's • Nov. 12, 2025
Browner, Chambers and Lesley Chappell Green, 35, of Stone Mountain were all convicted of racketeer influenced and corrupt organization conspiracy.
From Washington Times • Aug. 22, 2023
There is no evidence Butler gained materially from being “a racketeer for capitalism” — his words — who “helped rape a half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.”
From Seattle Times • Jan. 18, 2022
Gerald Shur was 15 when he first met a mobster, a bodyguard for a racketeer seeking to intimidate his father, a dressmaker in New York City’s garment district.
From Washington Post • Sep. 2, 2020
The papers are all saying now that she got $10,000 for double-crossing some awful racketeer named 'Swallow-tail Sammy', but I know she didn't get the money that way!
From Murder at Bridge by Austin, Anne
Definitions 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.
