overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

swindle.

To defraud.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈswɪndəl/[ˈswɪndəl] ~ [ˈswɪndl̩]
  1. To defraud.

    transitive
    The two men swindled the company out of $160,000.
  2. To obtain (money or property) by fraudulent or deceitful methods.

    ambitransitive
    She swindled more than £200 out of me.
  3. For a player in a losing position to play a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw.

Where this word comes from

Back-formation from swindler, from German Schwindler, from German schwindeln, from Middle High German swindeln, swindelen, from Old High German swintilōn, frequentative of the verb swintan, from Proto-West Germanic *swindan (“to diminish”). See also Modern German schwindeln, Danish svindel and svindle, Dutch zwindelen and zwendelen, Yiddish שווינדל (shvindl), Low German swinneln, Middle English swinden (“to languish, waste away”).

noun/ˈswɪndəl/[ˈswɪndəl] ~ [ˈswɪndl̩]
  1. An instance of swindling.

  2. Anything that is deceptively not what it appears to be.

  3. An instance wherein a player in a losing position plays a clever move that provokes an error from the opponent, thus achieving a win or a draw.

Where this word comes from

Back-formation from swindler, from German Schwindler, from German schwindeln, from Middle High German swindeln, swindelen, from Old High German swintilōn, frequentative of the verb swintan, from Proto-West Germanic *swindan (“to diminish”). See also Modern German schwindeln, Danish svindel and svindle, Dutch zwindelen and zwendelen, Yiddish שווינדל (shvindl), Low German swinneln, Middle English swinden (“to languish, waste away”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

swindle has 7 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

swindle studioswindle workshello, swindle

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.