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Synonyms

cheap shot

American  

noun

  1. a covert, unsportsmanlike, and illegal act of deliberate roughness, especially in football, often calculated to injure an opponent.

  2. any mean or unsportsmanlike remark or action, especially one directed at a defenseless or vulnerable person.

cheap shot Idioms  

  1. An unfair or unsporting verbal attack, as in You called him an amateur? That's really taking a cheap shot. The term originated in sports, especially American football, where it signifies deliberate roughness against an unprepared opponent. [Slang; second half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But in doing so, "they would have made this tenuous link between fluoride and Aimee Lou's teeth. It's a bit of a cheap shot," she told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday.

From BBC • Apr. 16, 2025

Indeed, one might ask whether everyone who is presuming that Smith did not follow department procedure is taking their own cheap shot.

From Slate • Oct. 7, 2024

“Big Red, sorry if I caught you with that cheap shot, baby,” Travis Kelce said.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 14, 2024

With that star power comes an easy cheap shot: Why should anybody care about a bunch of privileged elites whining about a dream job?

From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2023

“Natalie doesn’t like it either. She doesn’t like it one bit,” I say, although I know this is a cheap shot.

From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.