Term: pyramid scheme: a fraudulent scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to the person who recruited them while expecting to receive payments from the persons they recruit; when the number of new recruits fails to sustain the hierarchical payment structure the scheme collapses with most of the participants losing the money they put in
Candidate hypernym: scheme: an elaborate and systematic plan of action → 1
Candidate hypernym: erodium: geraniums of Europe and South America and Australia especially mountainous regions → 0
Candidate hypernym: effect: an impression (especially one that is artificial or contrived) → 0
Candidate hypernym: anthology: a collection of selected literary passages → 0
Candidate hypernym: timeserver: one who conforms to current ways and opinions for personal advantage → 0
Candidate hypernym: majority: the property resulting from being or relating to the greater in number of two parts; the main part → 0
Candidate hypernym: snowblindness: temporary blindness caused by exposure to sunlight reflected from snow or ice → 0
Candidate hypernym: reserve: the trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary → 0
Candidate hypernym: weapon: any instrument or instrumentality used in fighting or hunting → 0
Candidate hypernym: topsail: a sail (or either of a pair of sails) immediately above the lowermost sail of a mast and supported by a topmast → 0
Candidate hypernym: sphecoidea: families Sphecidae and Stizidae → 0