profiteer
Crisis price gouger
A profiteer exploits circumstances—war, shortage, disaster—to charge excessive prices or make unreasonable gains.
The word carries strong disapproval: profiteering suggests greed at others' expense rather than legitimate business.
As a verb, to profiteer is to engage in such practices: Companies profiteered from the pandemic by gouging prices on medical supplies.
One exploiting circumstances
- sharkCartilaginous marine predator
- vultureCarrion-eating raptor
- leechBlood-feeding aquatic worm
- parasiteOne exploiting a host
predator · bloodsucker · scavenger · racketeer · speculator · hoarder · gouger · monopolist
Excessive desire for riches
- covetousnessExcessive desire for possessions
- rapacityAggressive, seizing greed
- acquisitivenessDesire to gather wealth
- moneygrubbingObsessively focused on gain
insatiability · materialism · hoarding · greed · windfall · ill-gotten gains · usury · extortion
Coordinated artificial cost-setting
- collusionFraudulent secret cooperation
- gougingExploitative overpricing
- hoardingExcessive accumulation of goods
- speculationUnproven theorizing or risky investment
black marketeering · cartel · monopoly · cornering the market · artificial scarcity · bid-rigging · kickback · embezzlement
Illicit trading system
- contrabandProhibited trade goods
- arms dealerVendor of weaponry
- smugglerIllegal goods transporter
- lootingTheft during disorder
plunder · blockade runner · rationing · scarcity · war economy · munitions · occupation · shortages
Lacking moral principles
- shadyDisreputable or sun-blocked
- corruptDishonest, open to bribes
- dishonestInclined to deceive
- predatoryExploiting the vulnerable
rapacious · exploitative · mercenary · sleazy · underhanded · avaricious · greedy · grasping
opportunist
One exploiting circumstances
parasite · predator · bloodsucker · scavenger · racketeer · speculator · hoarder · gouger · monopolist · price gouger
avarice
Excessive desire for riches
- covetousnessExcessive desire for possessions
- rapacityAggressive, seizing greed
- acquisitivenessDesire to gather wealth
moneygrubbing · insatiability · materialism · hoarding · greed · windfall · ill-gotten gains · usury · extortion · fleecing
price-fixing
Coordinated artificial cost-setting
- collusionFraudulent secret cooperation
- gougingExploitative overpricing
- hoardingExcessive accumulation of goods
speculation · black marketeering · cartel · monopoly · cornering the market · artificial scarcity · bid-rigging · kickback · embezzlement · skimming
black market
Illicit trading system
- contrabandProhibited trade goods
- arms dealerVendor of weaponry
- smugglerIllegal goods transporter
looting · plunder · blockade runner · rationing · scarcity · war economy · munitions · occupation · shortages · ration cards
unscrupulous
Lacking moral principles
predatory · rapacious · exploitative · mercenary · sleazy · underhanded · avaricious · greedy · grasping · usurious
- Crookscrook, swindler, fraudster, embezzler, con artist
- exploitersexploiter, predator, parasite, user, leech
- opportunistsopportunist, exploiter, user, gold digger, fortune hunter
- bloodsuckersmosquito, tick, flea, leech, bedbug
- fat catstycoon, mogul, magnate, plutocrat, oligarch
- thievesthief, robber, burglar, pickpocket, shoplifter
profiteerphilanthropist
Donor to charitable causes
altruist · benefactor · humanitarian · volunteer · do-gooder
profiteerGood Samaritan
Compassionate stranger from scripture
relief worker · benefactor · humanitarian · charitable donor · first responder
- war profiteersThose enriched by military conflicts
- war profiteeringExploiting conflict for gain