ill-gotten
12
7.7
- adjective
- /ˌɪlˈɡɑːtən/
- The authorities seized his ill-gotten wealth after uncovering his fraudulent activities.
- ill-gotten gains
- ill-gotten wealth
- ill-gotten advantage
Examples
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At the crudest level, Wall Street's ill-gotten gains corrupted and continue to corrupt politics in a nicely bipartisan way.
Blog text (25) -
Second, coupon settlements often fail to disgorge ill-gotten gains from the defendant.
Academic text (2017) -
And every red cent of it is ill-gotten, you may rest assured!
Fiction book (1990) -
The movie highlights a series of deaths all tied to ill-gotten money and drugs.
Blog text (24) -
The F.B.I. Has traced his ill-gotten gains to a number of charities across the country.
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Michael hurried home and dragged out the small chest where he kept all of his ill-gotten gains.
Fiction book (2002) -
Some criminal cases are being filed now, but I fear the ill-gotten gains are wintering in the Cayman Islands.
Blog text (14) -
With his ill-gotten gains, Snidely Whiplash was taking over all of Semi-Happy Valley, and that included the local motel, the Slaw-Dogs stand, the funeral home, the very town itself.
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Many believe that her success was built on ill-gotten profits from dishonest business practices.
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He faced serious consequences for using his ill-gotten riches to bribe officials.
Synonyms
453
4.3
Dishonest or illegal, especially about money
Money or property that someone trusted to manage secretly takes for themselves
Money or property someone takes and uses dishonestly when trusted to keep it
Antonyms
How Lawful
Surface Forms
Morphology
ill-gotten = gotten (transparent) = ill + gotten
The adjective is a regular formation meaning 'badly/illegally obtained' and an average learner who knows 'ill' and 'gotten' can derive the meaning.
Etymology
Ill-gotten comes from two parts: ill meaning 'bad' and gotten, the past of the common verb get meaning 'got'. So ill-gotten describes things that were 'got' in a 'bad' way, such as money taken by dishonest or illegal means.