Extort

Definition: Extort

Extort

Verb

1. Obtain through intimidation.

2. Obtain by coercion or intimidation; "They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss".

3. Get or cause to become in a difficult or laborious manner.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "extort" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

Synonyms: Extort

Compulsion

Extort, wring from; squeeze, put on the squeeze; put on the screws, turn on the screw; drag into; bind, bind over; pin down, tie down; require, tax, put in force; commandeer; restrain.

Dearness

Overcharge, bleed, fleece, extort.

Extraction

Verb: extract, draw; take out, draw out, pull out, tear out, pluck out, pick out, get out; wring from, wrench; extort; root up, weed up, grub up, rake up, root out, weed out, grub out, rake out; eradicate; pull up by the roots, pluck up by the roots; averruncate; unroot; uproot, pull up, extirpate, dredge.

Greed

Verb: covet, crave (desire); grasp; exact, extort.

Taking

Take from, take away from; disseize; deduct; retrench; (curtail); dispossess, ease one of, snatch from one's grasp; tear from, tear away from, wrench from, wrest from, wring from; extort; deprive of, bereave; disinherit, cut off with a shilling.

Crosswords: Extort

I wouldn't extort a nickel from my worst enemy (The Two Jakes; writing credit: Robert Towne)

Books

• Sex-Ploytation: How Women Use Their Bodies to Extort Money from Men (reference)

  (more book examples)

Civil Liberties

Mali

Some police and gendarmes used the occasion to extort bribes. (references)

Equatorial Guinea

Local police routinely extort bribes from occupants of cars, taxis, and other vehicles traveling outside the capital. (references)

Russia

At year's end, the registration requirement remained in effect, and the practice--which police reportedly used mainly as a means to extort money--continued. (references)

Economic History

Spain

ETA operatives extort "revolutionary taxes" from businesspersons and professionals living in the Basque region. (references)

Nigeria

Many of these activities, particularly hostage takings, primarily seek to extort cash from the foreign operators. (references)

Human Rights

Algeria

Violence by terrorist groups also is used to extort money. (references)

Political Economy

Liberia

Security forces restricted freedom of movement, using roadblocks to extort money from travelers and displaced persons fleeing fighting, primarily in Lofa County. (references)

Travel

Russia

In turn, these gangs use the information to extort foreigners. (references)

Women

Israel and the occupied territories

Such restrictive practices have been used by husbands to extort concessions from their wives in return for agreeing to a divorce. (references)

Worker Rights

India

Using the PITA's provisions against soliciting or engaging in sexual acts, police regularly may arrest sex workers, extort money from them, evict them, and take their children from them. (references)

Expressions using "extort": extort a meaning ♦ extort comtributions from ♦ extort from ♦ extort money. Additional references.

Albanian

zhvat (bleed, cadge, claw back, coax, devour, filch, fleece, hog, Rob, spoil, squeeze, Winkle, worm, wrest), shkul (deracinate, drag out, extract, grub, hank, jerk, pluck, pull, pull out, rip out, root up, skein, tear, tear down, tweak, wring, yank), rrëmbej (collar, denude, deplume, derogate, despoil, flick out, grab, hijack, jump, rape, ravish, reave, reive, whip, whip up, wrest). (various references)

Arabic 

‏إنتزع (conquer, draw, exact, extract, get smth. off one's hands, grab, snatch, swagger, tear, tear out, twitch, wrest, wring, yank), ‏إغتصب (assault, assume, commandeer, convert, exact, force, rape, wring), ‏إبتز (blackmail, carry favor, carry favour, diddle, exact, outdistance, pump, squeeze out, sting, swindle). (various references)

Bulgarian 

вземам насила, изтръгвам (elicit, get, milk, pull out, rip out, root from, snatch, tear out, uproot, wrench, wrest, yank). (various references)

Chinese 

逼 (close, close in on, compel, drive, force, press for, press on towards, press up to), 脧 (fleece, reduce), 敲 (knock). (various references)

Czech

vynutit (enforce, extract), vydírat (blackmail, racket). (various references)

Dutch

knevelen (wrest, wring), afpersen (wrest, wring), afdwingen (wrest, wring). (various references)

Esperanto

eltrudi, eldevigi (wrest, wring). (various references)

Farsi 

زیادستاندن (Surcharge), اخاذی کردن (Bleed), بزورگرفتن (Exact, Hog, Usurp, Wring), بزورتهدیدیاشکنجه گرفتن . (various references)

Finnish

kiristää rahoja (blackmail, extort money). (various references)

French

extorquer (exact), soutirer (extract), pressurer (exploit). (various references)

Frisian

ôftwinge (wrest, wring). (various references)

German

erzwingen (enforce), erpressen (blackmail). (various references)

Greek 

εκβιάζω (blackmail), αποσπώ (detach, distract, elicit, extract, pull). (various references)

Hungarian

kierõszakol (enforce), kicsikar (to exact, to extract, to rack). (various references)

Indonesian

memeras (blackmail). (various references)

Italian

estorcere (wring, wrest). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

集る (to crowd round, to extort from, to flock, to gather, to sponge off, to swarm), 取り立てる (to appoint, to collect, to extort, to promote), せっ器 (at least, at most, earthenware, to demand money, to extort, to pester). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

たかる (to crowd round, to extort from, to flock, to gather, to sponge off, to swarm), せびる (to demand money, to extort, to pester), とりたてる (to appoint, to collect, to extort, to promote). (various references)

Manx

streeagey (extortion). (various references)

Norwegian

presse (crush). (various references)

Pig Latin

extortay.(various references)

Portuguese

extorquir (compel, exact, fleece, pinch, screw out of, take), roubar (plunder, rob, steal), achacar. (various references)

Romanian

stoarce (crush, drain, exhaust, express, extort from, fleece, force, milk, pinch, press, screw, soak, squeeze, swindle, twist, wring), smulge (carry away, draw out, elicit, extirpate, pick off, pull, pull up, rend away, rend off, Rive, snatch, squeeze, tear out, uproot, worm out of, wrest, wring, yank), scoate (abstract, banish, bring out, brood, chase away, concoct, deduce, delete, deliver, dig, discharge, dismiss, draw out, drive away, edit, elicit, emit, exhaust, expel, extract, extrude, fabricate, get on, give out, gouge, gut, hatch, heave, issue, let out, obtain, produce, publish, pull off, pull out, put off, put out, quarry, realize, remove, sap, save, scoop, strike out, strip, take off, take out, utter). (various references)

Russian 

вымогать (pinch, screw out of, squeeze). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

iznuditi (exact, force, pry out, shake down). (various references)

Spanish

arrancar (pluck, start, switch on, tear off, take away, wrest, wring). (various references)

Swedish

framtvinga (compel, enforce, extract, necessitate), avtvinga. (various references)

Turkish

zorla yaptırmak (bludgeon, drag in, dragoon, enforce, force smb.'s hand, grind out), zorla almak (exact, grab, rape, reave, Rob, snatch, squeeze, usurp, wrench, wrench smth. away from smb., wrench smth. from smb., wrest, wring), tehditle almak, koparmak (break, break off, cozen, cut off, deflorate, deflower, dissever, pick, pick off, pluck, pry, pull off, rend, rip, rip off, Rive, rupture, snap, snap off, snatch, snatch away from, snatch from, sunder, take apart, tear, tear away, tear off, tear out, unstick, work, wring), gaspetmek (disseise, disseize, hijack, invade, rape, ravish, seize, seize by force, spoliate, usurp, wrest, wrest from). (various references)

Ukrainian

вимагати (ask, call for, challenge, charge, claim, cry for, demand, importune, necessitate, postulate, racketeer, require, sweat out, want, wring), видирати (rip out, tear up). (various references)

Welsh

cribddeilio (grab). (various references)

extorserit, extorsit, extundo. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "extort": extorted, extorter, extorters, extorting, extortion, extortionary, extortionate, extortionately, extortioner, extortioners, extortionist, extortionists, extortions, extortive, extorts. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Extort" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dextor, Eatwot, entort, Ettori, exitor, exort, extart, exterp, exto, extor, extore, extorn, extro, extrotic, Hedtoft, Oxshott. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: otter, oxter, rotte, torte, toter.

-2 letters: rote, text, tore, tort, tote, tret, trot.

-3 letters: ore, ort, ret, rex, roe, rot, tet, toe, tor, tot.

-4 letters: er, et, ex, oe, or, ox, re, to.

+1 letter: extorts.

+2 letters: extorted, extorter, tetroxid.

+3 letters: extorters, extorting, extortion, extortive, extractor, extrovert, tetroxide, tetroxids, tortrixes.

+4 letters: chatterbox, contexture, excitatory, exorbitant, extenuator, extirpator, extortions, extraction, extractors, extroverts, foxtrotted, metathorax, tetroxides, tropotaxes.

+5 letters: contextures, enterotoxin, exhortation, exhortative, exhortatory, expectorant, expectorate, exportation, extenuators, extenuatory, exteriority, extirpation, extirpators, extortioner, extractions, extradition, extrapolate, extrication, extroverted, letterboxed, stereotaxic, thermotaxes, thermotaxis.