What does extortionate mean?
Extortionate is an adjective used to describe prices, fees, rents, or demands that are shockingly high and grossly unfair. When someone says a café charges extortionate prices for coffee, they mean the charges are not merely expensive but unreasonable to the point of feeling like exploitation. The word derives from "extort," the act of obtaining money through force or threats, so calling a price extortionate implicitly accuses the seller of greed akin to blackmail. It is common in both British and American English, though it appears more frequently in British usage, and it fits comfortably in everyday speech as well as journalism — reviews of restaurants, landlords, banks, and airlines often describe their charges as extortionate interest rates or extortionate fees. A closely related adverb, extortionately, describes the manner of charging. Stronger and more accusatory than "expensive," the word always carries disapproval, making it a vivid choice for complaining about anything perceived as a rip-off.
(Of a price, charge, or demand) excessive and unreasonably high; grossly unfair.
"Parking at the airport costs an extortionate £30 a day."
This is the dominant sense today, particularly frequent in British English.
Involving or characterized by extortion; obtained or sought by coercion or threats.
"The defendants were convicted of extortionate demands made against local businesses."
Chiefly legal in modern usage.
When you call a price "extortionate," you're literally comparing the seller to a blackmailer — the word descends from the same Latin root behind the crime of extortion.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of extortionate
Extortionate comes from "extort," which traces back through Anglo-Norman and Old French extorter to the Latin extortus, the past participle of extorquere, meaning "to twist out" or "wrench away" (from ex- "out" plus torquere "to twist"). The word thus originally evoked money literally twisted out of someone's hands. Extortionate emerged in English around the late 16th century, first describing practices involving extortion before shifting toward its dominant modern sense of excessively high prices. It shares its Latin root with related words such as extortion, extortionist, and, distantly, torque and torture.
Related word forms
How extortionate is actually used
The price sense is by far the most common in modern usage and is especially frequent in British English, where it is standard informal-to-neutral register. It carries strong negative connotation, implying not merely high cost but greed and unfairness on the part of the charger. The literal sense connected to the crime of extortion survives mainly in legal contexts.
Easily confused with extortionate
"Exorbitant" means simply excessively large or high, while "extortionate" specifically connotes greed and unfairness, evoking the crime of extortion.
"Extort" is the verb meaning to obtain something by force or threats, whereas "extortionate" is the adjective describing prices that are as unreasonably demanding as such coercion would be.