cheap

[ cheep ]

adjective

, cheap·er, cheap·est.

1. costing very little; relatively low in price; inexpensive:

   a cheap dress.

   Antonyms: expensive, dear, costly

2. costing little labor or trouble:

   Words are cheap.

3. charging low prices:

   a very cheap store.

4. of little account; of small value; mean; shoddy:

   cheap conduct; cheap workmanship.

   Synonyms: base, inferior, poor, low, paltry

5. embarrassed; sheepish:

   He felt cheap about his mistake.

6. obtainable at a low rate of interest:

   when money is cheap.

7. of decreased value or purchasing power, as currency depreciated due to inflation.
8. stingy; miserly:

   He's too cheap to buy his own brother a cup of coffee.

   Antonyms: charitable, generous

adverb

1. at a low price; at small cost:

   He is willing to sell cheap.

cheap

/ tʃiːp /

adjective

1. costing relatively little; inexpensive; good value
2. charging low prices

   a cheap hairdresser

3. of poor quality; shoddy

   cheap and nasty

   cheap furniture

4. worth relatively little

   promises are cheap

5. not worthy of respect; vulgar
6. ashamed; embarrassed

   to feel cheap

7. stingy; miserly
8. informal.
   mean; despicable

   a cheap liar

9. See chip
   cheap as chips
   cheap as chips See chip
10. dirt cheap informal.
    dirt cheap extremely inexpensive

noun

1. on the cheap informal.
   on the cheap at a low cost

adverb

1. at very little cost

Derived Forms

• ˈcheapness, noun
• ˈcheaply, adverb
• ˈcheapish, adjective

Other Words From

• cheapish adjective
• cheapish·ly adverb
• cheaply adverb
• cheapness noun
• over·cheap adjective
• over·cheaply adverb
• over·cheapness noun
• un·cheaply adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of cheap¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English cheep (short for phrases such as good cheep “cheap,” literally, “good bargain”), Old English cēap “bargain, market, trade”; cognate with German Kauf, Old Norse kaup; all from Latin caupō “innkeeper, tradesman”; chapman

Word History and Origins

Origin of cheap¹

Old English ceap barter, bargain, price, property; related to Old Norse kaup bargain, Old High German kouf trade, Latin caupō innkeeper

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. cheap at twice the price, exceedingly inexpensive:

   I found this old chair for eight dollars—it would be cheap at twice the price.

2. on the cheap, Informal. inexpensively; economically:

   She enjoys traveling on the cheap.

More idioms and phrases containing cheap

• dirt cheap
• on the cheap

Synonym Study

Cheap, inexpensive agree in their suggestion of low cost. Cheap now usually suggests shoddiness, inferiority, showy imitation, complete unworthiness, and the like: a cheap kind of fur. Inexpensive emphasizes lowness of price (although more expensive than cheap ) and suggests that the value is fully equal to the cost: an inexpensive dress. It is often used as an evasion for the more specific cheap.

Example Sentences

In doing so he exposed the failure of other airlines in the region to see the huge pent-up demand for cheap travel.

From The Daily Beast

Betrayal…you can hear it…betraying the thing he loves for a cheap bit of film publicity.

From The Daily Beast

Riffing off the slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly,” the carrier offered no-frills flights that were both cheap and plentiful.

From The Daily Beast

Paper and cloth are cheap, what people are paying for is the story.

From The Daily Beast

Was Che anything more than a cheap karaoke of what he stood for?

From The Daily Beast

Cheap as they are, they are a poorer speculation than even corner lots in a lithographic city of Nebraska or Oregon.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1205 wheat was worth 12 pence per bushel, which was cheap, as there had been some years of famine previous thereto.

From Project Gutenberg

Some cheap food was presented to the printer in the shape of potatoes, with which his windows were smashed.

From Project Gutenberg

In the early sixties a cheap edition appeared, and cheap editions were rare things then.

From Project Gutenberg

She was dressed in her brightest skirt and fairly shone with the abundance of cheap jewelry she wore.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• competitive
• economical
• low-cost
• low-priced
• reasonable