Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To obtain (something) by the criminal offense of extortion.
  • intransitive verb To obtain by coercion, intimidation, or psychological pressure.
  • intransitive verb To commit the criminal offense of extortion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Extortionate.
  • To obtain, as from a holder of desired possessions or knowledge, by force or compulsion; wrest or wring away by any violent or oppressive means, as physical force, menace, duress, torture, authority, monopoly, or the necessities of others.
  • In law, to take illegally under color of office. See extortion.
  • To practise extortion.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To wrest from an unwilling person by physical force, menace, duress, torture, or any undue or illegal exercise of power or ingenuity; to wrench away (from); to tear away; to wring (from); to exact
  • transitive verb (Law) To get by the offense of extortion. See Extortion, 2.
  • past participle obsolete Extorted.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To practice extortion.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To wrest from an unwilling person by physical force, menace, duress, torture, or any undue or illegal exercise of power or ingenuity; to wrench away (from); to tear away; to wring (from); to exact; as, to extort contributions from the vanquished; to extort confessions of guilt; to extort a promise; to extort payment of a debt.
  • verb transitive, law To obtain by means of the offense of extortion.
  • verb transitive and intransitive, medicine, ophthalmology To twist outwards.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb get or cause to become in a difficult or laborious manner
  • verb obtain through intimidation
  • verb obtain by coercion or intimidation

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin extorquēre, extort-, to wrench out, extort : ex-, ex- + torquēre, to twist; see terkw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin extortus, past participle of extorquere ("to twist or wrench out, to extort"); from ex ("out") + -tort, from torqueō ("twist, turn").

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Examples

  • Any postiton on APD cops who the beat the hell out of their girlfriends and don't get suspended? ...... or is it all about how much $$$$ we can extort from the honest, hard-working people of Aurora?

    City of Aurora's Labor Union Negotiations Continue with Mixed Progress, Complaints and Counter-Complaints 2010

  • Good provender did these people extort from the poor whalemen, and this provender has wandered into few hands.

    A HYPERBOREAN BREW 2010

  • Good provender did these people extort from the poor whalemen, and this provender has wandered into few hands.

    A HYPERBOREAN BREW 2010

  • If you leave any where else, ask youself this: how much did MY senator extort from the Dems to buy his/her vote?

    Graham: Dems engaging in 'seedy Chicago politics' 2009

  • Good provender did these people extort from the poor whalemen, and this provender has wandered into few hands.

    A Hyperborean Brew 1904

  • The original Austro-Polish solution was taken up again, although it was impossible to extort from the Germans a definite statement as to a reasonable western frontier for Poland.

    Im Weltkriege. English Ottokar Theobald Otto Maria Czernin von und zu Chudenitz 1902

  • Every art was tried to extort from the people the gold and silver which he scattered with a lavish hand from Persia to France: 81 his reign was marked by the vicissitudes or rather by the combat, of rapaciousness and avarice, of splendor and poverty; he lived with the reputation of hidden treasures, 82 and bequeathed to his successor the payment of his debts.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • The liberality of the emperor was accompanied, however, with two harsh and rigorous conditions, which prudence might justify on the side of the Romans; but which distress alone could extort from the indignant Goths.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • They dreaded the mysterious power of spells and incantations, of potent herbs, and execrable rites; which could extinguish or recall life, inflame the passions of the soul, blast the works of creation, and extort from the reluctant daemons the secrets of futurity.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

  • His hungry brethren cannot, without a sense of their own injustice, extort from the hunter the game of the forest overtaken or slain by his personal strength and dexterity.

    The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206

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