ENGLISH
REFERENCE

highway robbery

idiom
Meaning

Excessive or exorbitant prices.


Origin

disputed origin

Compare Old English weġrēaf (“highway robbery”, literally “road-theft”).

Examples
SIMPLE

Paying ten dollars for a small coffee is highway robbery.

CONTEXTUAL

The hotel charged us fifty dollars for parking, which felt like absolute highway robbery.

COMPLEX

The company’s decision to charge such exorbitant fees for basic services was widely criticized as nothing short of highway robbery.

Anchors to
Related idioms2entries
  1. 01

    daylight robbery

    The practice of cheating or of imposing an exorbitant charge for a product or service; (countable, rare) an instance of this.

  2. 02

    my way or the highway

    Your only options are to either do as I say or leave.

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