Definition of "swindle" [swin•dle]

• To cheat or defraud of money or property. (verb-transitive)
• To obtain by fraudulent means: swindled money from the company. (verb-transitive)
• To practice fraud as a means of obtaining money or property. (verb-intransitive)
• The act or an instance of swindling. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The swindle is the implicit assumption this will raise the overall correlation between compensation and quality from approximately zero to approximately one."
• "This plan was a swindle from the very start, and every body in the Congress and Pentagon knew it."
• "He leveled his gaze at me and said, "Hey, hey, hey," long dramatic pause, "swindle is an awfully harsh word.""