Meaning & use
extortioner
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A person who illegally forces someone to give money or property by using threats or violence.
Grammar: Countable noun: you can say 'an extortioner' or 'two extortioners'.
Patterns
- an extortioner who threatens someone
- be accused of being an extortioner
The police arrested the extortioner who had been demanding money from local shop owners.
He was known as a ruthless extortioner, preying on small businesses.
The court sentenced the extortioner to five years in prison.
Word forms
| plural | extortioners |
|---|
Common combinations
- a notorious extortioner
- The city was once terrorized by a notorious extortioner.
- accused of being an extortioner
- The businessman was accused of being an extortioner.
- convicted extortioner
- The convicted extortioner showed no remorse.
Synonyms and how they differ
- extortionist
- The more common modern term; it means the same thing but is used more often in news reports and everyday speech.
- blackmailer
- Similar, but blackmail usually involves threatening to reveal secrets rather than using physical violence.
Word family
Commonly confused: extortioner or extortionist?
extortioner vs extortionist
These two words are almost identical in meaning; 'extortionist' is far more common in modern English.
Practice
What does an extortioner do?
Choose one answer.
An extortioner uses threats or violence to make someone hand over money or property. Stealing secretly is shoplifting, and cheating on a test is not extortion.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “extortioner”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.