racketeering

C2+ Topic:Business & Commerce

US /ˌrækəˈtɪrɪŋ/ UK /ˌrækɪˈtɪərɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the running of an illegal business or fraudulent scheme for profit

The mob boss was convicted of extortion and racketeering.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the running of an illegal... extortion fraud graft corruption crimegangsterism

Word family

Related forms racketracketeer

Etymology

From racketeer (racket + -eer) + -ing; racket in the sense 'fraudulent scheme' is of uncertain origin, perhaps from the earlier sense 'noise, din', itself probably imitative.

Topics

Business & Commerce Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# racketeering

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˌrækəˈtɪrɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌrækɪˈtɪərɪŋ/

## Meanings
1. the running of an illegal business or fraudulent scheme for profit

## Examples
- The mob boss was convicted of extortion and racketeering.

## Synonyms
- extortion
- fraud
- graft
- corruption
- crime
- gangsterism

## Related Forms
- racket
- racketeer

## Etymology
From racketeer (racket + -eer) + -ing; racket in the sense 'fraudulent scheme' is of uncertain origin, perhaps from the earlier sense 'noise, din', itself probably imitative.

## AI Etymology
Racketeering comes from racketeer (racket + -eer) + -ing; racket in the sense 'fraudulent scheme' is of uncertain origin, perhaps from the earlier sense 'noise, din', itself probably imitative. Older glosses in the chain include "fraudulent scheme" and "noise, din", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, racketeering is best read as compound, suffixal formation, imitative formation, and uncertain formation, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "the running of an illegal business or fraudulent scheme for profit". related forms include racket and racketeer. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Business & Commerce
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown