Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Relatively low in cost; inexpensive or comparatively inexpensive.
- adjective Charging low prices.
- adjective Obtainable at a low rate of interest. Used especially of money.
- adjective Devalued, as in buying power.
- adjective Achieved with little effort.
- adjective Of or considered of small value.
- adjective Of poor quality; inferior.
- adjective Worthy of no respect; vulgar or contemptible.
- adjective Stingy; miserly.
- adverb Inexpensively.
- idiom (cheap at twice the price) Extremely inexpensive.
- idiom (on the cheap) By inexpensive means; cheaply.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To trade; traffic; bargain; chaffer; ask the price of goods; cheapen goods.
- To bargain for; chaffer for; ask the price of; offer a price for; cheapen.
- To buy; purchase.
- To sell.
- Rated at a low price or cost; purchasable or obtainable at a low price or cost, either as compared with the usual price or cost, or with the real value, or, more vaguely, with the price of other things; relatively inexpensive.
- Of small intrinsic value or esteem; common; commonplace; mean; costing little effort to obtain, practise, influence, etc.: as, to make one's self cheap.
- Getting off cheaply, or without losing much (or so much as one deserves): as, to be cheap o′ t.
- noun Trade; traffic; chaffer; chaffering.
- noun A market; a market-place: in this sense extant in several place-names, as Cheapside and Eastcheap in London, Chepstow, etc.
- noun Price.
- noun A low price; a bargain: especially in the phrases good cheap and great cheap (see below).
- noun Cheapness; lowness of price; abundance of supply.
- noun In abundant supply; at a low price; cheap: used adjectively or adverbially. [Now simply cheap. See
cheap , a.] - noun literally, great or large market-trade, An abundant supply; cheapness.
- noun In abundant supply; at a low price; cheap.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adverb Cheaply.
- noun obsolete A bargain; a purchase; cheapness.
- intransitive verb obsolete To buy; to bargain.
- adjective Having a low price in market; of small cost or price, as compared with the usual price or the real value.
- adjective Of comparatively small value; common; mean.
- adjective very cheap, -- a phrase formed probably by the catachrestical transposition of
good cheap. [Colloq.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Trade ;traffic ;chaffer ;chaffering . - noun A
market ;marketplace . - noun
Price . - noun A low price; a
bargain . - noun
Cheapness ; lowness of price; abundance of supply. - adjective
Low and/or reduced inprice . - adjective Of
poor quality . - adjective Of
little worth . - adjective slang, of an action or tactic in a game of skill underhand; dubious.
- adjective derogatory
frugal ;stingy - verb intransitive, obsolete To
trade ;traffic ;bargain ;chaffer ; ask theprice of goods;cheapen goods. - verb transitive, obsolete To bargain for; chaffer for; ask the price of; offer a price for; cheapen.
- verb transitive, obsolete To
buy ;purchase . - verb transitive, obsolete To
sell .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of very poor quality; flimsy
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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_cheap laborer_ -- cheap not because she is a poor laborer -- she is not; generally she is an admirable one -- quick to learn, faithful to discharge.
The Business of Being a Woman Ida M. Tarbell 1900
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At the word cheap I felt a deep sense of dishonor, a sense that I now was at the lowest rung of this society, that I had fallen low.
Nomad Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2010
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At the word cheap I felt a deep sense of dishonor, a sense that I now was at the lowest rung of this society, that I had fallen low.
Nomad Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2010
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At the word cheap I felt a deep sense of dishonor, a sense that I now was at the lowest rung of this society, that I had fallen low.
Nomad Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2010
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I don't think this is the end of credible news, although the word cheap does come to mind.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Leo C. Wolinsky 2011
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I use the term cheap since you got all the instances for a keyword for that measly price.
Digital Point Forums 2009
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Allow me to first address your use of the word "cheap."
Michael Cohen: Ask Michael Cohen: How to Be Pregnant and Not in Heels Michael Cohen 2011
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Allow me to first address your use of the word "cheap."
Michael Cohen: Ask Michael Cohen: How to Be Pregnant and Not in Heels Michael Cohen 2011
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Allow me to first address your use of the word "cheap."
Michael Cohen: Ask Michael Cohen: How to Be Pregnant and Not in Heels Michael Cohen 2011
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House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith has made a career of fighting what he calls "cheap foreign labor," and one of his projects is to harass American business into becoming the enforcement agent for U.S. immigration laws.
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Note: “Deep fake” describes an AI-generated video; a “cheap fake” typically involves real footage that has been manipulated or taken out of context, either with AI or other editing software.
"We’re not going to eradicate people believing in dumb stuff." Caitlin Dewey 2024
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Some producers, especially in the unscripted arena, are parking blue-chip (industry jargon for “premium”) and instead going “blue cheap” — it’s a phrase I first heard a few months ago from a distribution exec, and it’s gaining wider usage as shorthand for shows that have a high-end sheen but can work with lower budgets, sometimes by clever uses of technology or user-generated content.
'Blue Cheap': 4 New Ways of Making TV Only Look Expensive Manori Ravindran 2025
ruzuzu commented on the word cheap
"n. A market; a market-place: in this sense extant in several place-names, as Cheapside and Eastcheap in London, Chepstow, etc."
--from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
May 16, 2014