Library / English Dictionary

CHEAT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A deception for profit to yourself

Synonyms:

cheat; cheating

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("cheat" is a kind of...):

deceit; deception; dissembling; dissimulation (the act of deceiving)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cheat"):

gerrymander (an act of gerrymandering (dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage))

Derivation:

cheat (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme

Example:

that book is a fraud

Synonyms:

cheat; rig; swindle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("cheat" is a kind of...):

fraud (intentional deception resulting in injury to another person)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cheat"):

cozenage; scam (a fraudulent business scheme)

bunco; bunco game; bunko; bunko game; con; con game; confidence game; confidence trick; flimflam; hustle; sting (a swindle in which you cheat at gambling or persuade a person to buy worthless property)

gip; gyp ((sometimes offensive) an act of swindling or cheating)

pyramiding (a fraudulent business practice involving some form of pyramid scheme e.g., the chain of distribution is artificially expanded by an excessive number of distributors selling to other distributors at progressively higher wholesale prices until retail prices are unnecessarily inflated)

holdout (the act of hiding playing cards in a gambling game so they are available for personal use later)

swiz (British slang for a swindle)

shell game; thimblerig (a swindling sleight-of-hand game; victim guesses which of three things a pellet is under)

Derivation:

cheat (defeat someone through trickery or deceit)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who leads you to believe something that is not true

Synonyms:

beguiler; cheat; cheater; deceiver; slicker; trickster

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("cheat" is a kind of...):

offender; wrongdoer (a person who transgresses moral or civil law)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cheat"):

dissembler; dissimulator; hypocrite; phoney; phony; pretender (a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives)

imitator; impersonator (someone who (fraudulently) assumes the appearance of another)

fake; faker; fraud; imposter; impostor; pretender; pseud; pseudo; role player; sham; shammer (a person who makes deceitful pretenses)

liar; prevaricator (a person who has lied or who lies repeatedly)

misleader (someone who leads astray (often deliberately))

charlatan; mountebank (a flamboyant deceiver; one who attracts customers with tricks or jokes)

obscurantist (a person who is deliberately vague)

sandbagger (someone who deceives you about his true nature or intent in order to take advantage of you)

two-timer (someone who deceives a lover or spouse by carrying on a sexual relationship with somebody else)

utterer (someone who circulates forged banknotes or counterfeit coins)

figurehead; front; front man; nominal head; straw man; strawman (a person used as a cover for some questionable activity)

fortune hunter (a person who seeks wealth through marriage)

counterfeiter; forger (someone who makes copies illegally)

finagler; wangler (a deceiver who uses crafty misleading methods)

falsifier (someone who falsifies)

defalcator; embezzler; peculator (someone who violates a trust by taking (money) for his own use)

betrayer; double-crosser; double-dealer; traitor; two-timer (a person who says one thing and does another)

dodger; fox; slyboots (a shifty deceptive person)

decoy; steerer (a beguiler who leads someone into danger (usually as part of a plot))

chiseler; chiseller; defrauder; gouger; grifter; scammer; swindler (a person who swindles you by means of deception or fraud)

bluffer; four-flusher (a person who tries to bluff other people)

Derivation:

cheat (engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Weedy annual native to Europe but widely distributed as a weed especially in wheat

Synonyms:

Bromus secalinus; cheat; chess

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("cheat" is a kind of...):

brome; bromegrass (any of various woodland and meadow grasses of the genus Bromus; native to temperate regions)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Weedy annual grass often occurs in grainfields and other cultivated land; seeds sometimes considered poisonous

Synonyms:

bearded darnel; cheat; darnel; Lolium temulentum; tare

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("cheat" is a kind of...):

rye grass; ryegrass (any of several annual or perennial Eurasian grasses)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Defeat someone through trickery or deceit

Synonyms:

cheat; chicane; chouse; jockey; screw; shaft

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "cheat" is one way to...):

beat; beat out; crush; shell; trounce; vanquish (come out better in a competition, race, or conflict)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

cheat (the act of swindling by some fraudulent scheme)

cheater (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Deprive somebody of something by deceit

Example:

They chiseled me out of my money

Synonyms:

cheat; chisel; rip off

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "cheat" is one way to...):

victimise; victimize (make a victim of)

"Cheat" entails doing...:

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cheat"):

beguile; hoodwink; juggle (influence by slyness)

welch; welsh (cheat by avoiding payment of a gambling debt)

whipsaw (victimize, especially in gambling or negotiations)

beat; bunk (avoid paying)

bilk (cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money)

gip; gyp ((sometimes offensive) to cheat or swindle)

bunco; con; defraud; diddle; goldbrick; hornswoggle; mulct; nobble; rook; scam; short-change; swindle; victimize (deprive of by deceit)

fleece; gazump; hook; overcharge; pluck; plume; rob; soak; surcharge (rip off; ask an unreasonable price)

cozen (cheat or trick)

gazump (raise the price of something after agreeing on a lower price)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody of something

Sentence examples:

Sam cannot cheat Sue

They cheat him of all his money

Derivation:

cheat (a deception for profit to yourself)

cheater (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

cheating (a deception for profit to yourself)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud

Example:

Who's chiseling on the side?

Synonyms:

cheat; chisel

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "cheat" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cheat"):

job (profit privately from public office and official business)

shark (play the shark; act with trickery)

rig; set up (arrange the outcome of by means of deceit)

cozen (act with artful deceit)

crib (use a crib, as in an exam)

cook; fake; falsify; fudge; manipulate; misrepresent; wangle (tamper, with the purpose of deception)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue cheat

Derivation:

cheat; cheater (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

cheating (a deception for profit to yourself)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be sexually unfaithful to one's partner in marriage

Example:

Might her husband be wandering?

Synonyms:

betray; cheat; cheat on; cuckold; wander

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "cheat" is one way to...):

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cheat"):

two-time (carry on a romantic relationship with two people at the same time)

fool around; play around (commit adultery)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot cheat Sue

Credits

 Context examples: 

You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

"To hell with your ethics!" the other burst out. "Come here and watch the weighing of this dust. I might cheat you."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Is there no end then to the wickedness of humankind? He so humble, so aged, so loth to take our money—and yet a villain and a cheat. Whom can we trust or believe in?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then turning to his first minister, who waited behind him with a white staff, near as tall as the mainmast of the Royal Sovereign, he observed how contemptible a thing was human grandeur, which could be mimicked by such diminutive insects as I: and yet, says he, I dare engage these creatures have their titles and distinctions of honour; they contrive little nests and burrows, that they call houses and cities; they make a figure in dress and equipage; they love, they fight, they dispute, they cheat, they betray!

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

You shall see what sort of a being I was cheated into espousing, and judge whether or not I had a right to break the compact, and seek sympathy with something at least human.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Everybody we had anything to do with seemed to cheat us.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You have cheated and taken in my father, said the son; pray give him up his bond at once.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"We don't cheat in America, but you can, if you choose," said Jo angrily.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A variety of occupations, of objects, and of company, which could not be procured at Barton, would be inevitable there, and might yet, she hoped, cheat Marianne, at times, into some interest beyond herself, and even into some amusement, much as the ideas of both might now be spurned by her.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)