Other forms: extorting, extorted, extorts
To extort is to force money out of somebody by threats. Extort money, extorted from him, extortion racket.
The threat is what makes it extortion rather than fraud, and it need not be a threat of violence — threatening to reveal something is blackmail, which is a form of it. It is a serious criminal offence everywhere. Figuratively, extortionate means outrageously overpriced. Note that the Latin means to twist out, which is exactly the image.
1verbextortTo force money out of somebody by threats.
“The criminals extorted money from the businessman by saying they would publish his private photos.”
extort is a forcing by threat.
Latin extorquere is ex plus torquere, to twist. Torque, torture and contort come from the same twisting, so extorting is twisting something out.
Proto-Indo-European
*terkʷ-
Latin
extortus
English, today
extort
Built from
Borrowed from Latin extortus, past participle of extorquere (“to twist or wrench out, to extort”); from ex (“out”) + -tort, from torqueō (“twist, turn”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA