0 the act of taking advantage of a situation in order to make a profit, usually by charging high prices for things people need:
1 the activity of taking unfair advantage of a situation to make a large profit, often by selling goods that are difficult to get at a very high price:
The Competition Commission is investigating supermarket prices and accusations of profiteering.
There is profiteering, of course - some second-rate hotels are charging eye-watering rates during the Olympics.
War profiteering is an age-old phenomenon.
He lambasted the pharmaceutical industry for "shameful profiteering."
But profiteering was not the only objectionable behavior.
This is not to say that it was enforced uniformly, systematically, or consistently, or that its enforcement was not sometimes governed by profiteering.
Scarcities, blackmarketeering and profiteering had a deep and lasting impact on society.
The scope for profiteering by traders was therefore limited.
Unfortunately, the ethical proscriptions have been emasculated by financial pressures, by increasing commercialism of academic medicine, and by profiteering.