fleece

1 of 2

noun

ˈflēs 

1

a

: the coat of wool covering a wool-bearing animal (such as a sheep)

b

: the wool obtained from a sheep at one shearing

2

a

: any of various soft or woolly coverings

b

: a soft bulky deep-piled knitted or woven fabric used chiefly for clothing

fleece

2 of 2

verb

fleeced; fleecing

transitive verb

1

a

: to strip of money or property by fraud or extortion

b

: to charge excessively for goods or services

2

: to remove the fleece from : shear

3

: to dot or cover with fleecy masses

Synonyms

Noun

• coat
• fur
• hair
• jacket
• pelage
• pile
• wool

Verb

• beat
• bilk
• bleed
• cheat
• chisel
• chouse
• con
• cozen
• defraud
• diddle
• do
• do in
• euchre
• fiddle
• flimflam
• gaff
• hose [slang]
• hustle
• mulct
• nobble [British slang]
• pluck
• ream
• rip off
• rook
• screw
• shake down
• short
• shortchange
• skin
• skunk
• squeeze
• stick
• stiff
• sting
• sucker
• swindle
• thimblerig
• victimize

Examples of fleece in a Sentence

Noun

learning how to shear the fleece off a sheep

Verb

Don't let that salesman fleece you.

an unsuspecting tourist fleeced by a scam artist

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Her husband Justin, meanwhile, wore his usual bulbous silhouette and teeny headgear: in a large textured black fleece, a red hoodie, beige trousers, suede brown moccasins, and a tight gray beanie. —Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 27 Mar. 2025

Plus, the Select team spoke to experts about how to take care of more than 23 fabric types, including cashmere, denim, fleece, leather and more. —Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 28 Feb. 2025

Verb

If this scenario were to actually happen in the 2025 NFL draft, the league may explode with rage and confusion as to how both Super Bowl teams fleeced the rest of the league. —Raja Krishnamoorthi, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Apr. 2025

Would Harrison have truly been so dumb to get fleeced this way? —C. Clark, D. Aldridge, S. Amick, F. Katz, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English flees, from Old English flēos; akin to Middle High German vlius fleece and perhaps to Latin pluma feather, down

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1537, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for fleece

• cease
• crease
• gees
• geese
• grease
• grece
• lease
• leese
• niece
• piece
• prese
• seis

Kids Definition

fleece

1 of 2 noun

ˈflēs 

1

: the woolly coat of an animal (as a sheep)

2

a

: any of various soft or woolly coverings

b

: a soft bulky knitted or woven fabric used especially for clothing

fleecy

ˈflē-sē

adjective

fleece

2 of 2 verb

fleeced; fleecing

1

: to rob by trickery

2

: to remove the fleece from : shear