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extort. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
extort, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
extort in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
extort you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin extortus, past participle of extorquere (“to twist or wrench out, to extort”); from ex (“out”) + -tort, from torqueō (“twist, turn”).
Pronunciation
Verb
extort (third-person singular simple present extorts, present participle extorting, simple past and past participle extorted)
- (transitive) To take or seize from an unwilling person by physical force, menace, duress, torture, or any undue or illegal exercise of power or ingenuity.
to extort contributions from the vanquished
to extort confessions of guilt
to extort a promise
to extort payment of a debt
1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, : Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474:The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!
- (transitive, law) To obtain by means of the offense of extortion.
2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian:Weirdly, Renton doesn’t look too much older and the same also goes for Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), who has exchanged heroin for cocaine and nowadays runs an escort-and-blackmail business, secretly videoing clients and extorting money, working with his female business partner, Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova).
- (transitive and intransitive, medicine, ophthalmology) To twist outwards.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to wrest from an unwilling person by undue or illegal exercise of power or ingenuity
- Armenian: շորթել (hy) (šortʻel)
- Bulgarian: изтръгвам (bg) (iztrǎgvam)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 勒索 (zh) (lèsuǒ), 敲詐/敲诈 (zh) (qiāozhà)
- Danish: afpresse, aftvinge
- Finnish: kiristää (fi), riistää (fi)
- French: extorquer (fr)
- Galician: extorsionar (gl)
- Hungarian: kicsikar (hu), kikényszerít (hu), kizsarol (hu)
- Italian: estorcere (it), carpire (it), spillare (it)
- Khmer: ឆាំង (km) (cʰaŋ), កំហែងយក (kɑmhaeŋ yɔɔk), សង្កត់យក (sɑŋkɑt yɔɔk), ជំរិតទារ (cumrɨt tie)
- Latin: extorqueō
- Maori: apo, kōhaki
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: utpresse
- Portuguese: extorquir (pt)
- Russian: вырыва́ть (ru) (vyryvátʹ), выпы́тывать (ru) (vypýtyvatʹ), отжимать (ru) pf (otžimatʹ) (colloquially)
- Spanish: extorsionar (es)
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to obtain by means of the offense of extortion
Translations to be checked
See also
Adjective
extort (not comparable)
- (obsolete) Wrongfully obtained.
References
- “extort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.