ill-gotten gains

Definitions

Money or other property acquired dishonestly.

plural, plural-only

Equivalents

Examples

“Was it her fault if she did not possess⟳ those sycophantic arts which her hypocritical nephew, Pitt Crawley, practised? She wished him all the happiness which he merited out of his ill-gotten gains.”

“Secondly, the highly reprehensible course pursued by the Free Church of Scotland, in soliciting, receiving, and retaining money in its sustentation fund for supporting the gospel in Scotland, which was evidently the ill-gotten gain⟳ of slaveholders and slave-traders.”

“By the bright bow of Heaven, I will have⟳ their ill-gotten gains from them, even though I hang⟳ for it as high as e'er a forest tree in Sherwood!”

“The exclusion from his clubs would mean⟳ ruin to Moran, who lived by his ill-gotten card gains.”

“How, exactly, does a lawyer come⟳ to legally give⟳ away ill-gotten gains on behalf of an international company that does not want⟳ to be named and surely does not want⟳ to face⟳ prosecution for what one division did?”

CEFR level