cheap

American  

[cheep] / tʃip /

adjective

cheaper, comparative cheapest superlative

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

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adverb

1. at a low price; at small cost.

   He is willing to sell cheap.

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, inexpensively; economically.

   She enjoys traveling on the cheap.

cheap British  

/ tʃiːp /

adjective

1. costing relatively little; inexpensive; good value

2. charging low prices

   a cheap hairdresser

3. of poor quality; shoddy

   cheap furniture

   cheap and nasty

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

10. informal extremely inexpensive

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noun

1. informal at a low cost

adverb

1. at very little cost

cheap More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing cheap

• dirt cheap
• on the cheap

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Synonym Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cheapness
  noun
• overcheapness
  noun
• cheapish
  adjective
• overcheap
  adjective
• cheapishly
  adverb
• cheaply
  adverb
• overcheaply
  adverb
• uncheaply
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• cheaper
  comparative
• cheapest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of cheap

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”; see chapman

Explanation

Something cheap doesn't cost much money. But watch out, because cheap things are also often cheaply made. When prices are low, they're cheap: that's a good thing. However, this word is often an insult. Hitting someone who isn't looking is a cheap shot. Things that aren't very well made and use low-quality materials are cheap. When someone — especially a woman — is dressed in a trashy way, people say "You look cheap!" And if you have a stingy Uncle Scrooge in your family, you can call him cheap or even a cheapskate.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cheap cheaper cheapest

He attributes much of their success to the relative scarcity of cheap capital compared to the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

The U.S. has been slow to adapt to the battlefield dominance of drones and cheap weapons, but the world’s most dynamic economy has the wit and technology to catch up if there’s enough political will.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

It was also cheap and pretty darn reliable.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

Faced with having to relocate, residents worried about finding comparably cheap housing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

Actually, she’s playing the coal merchant like a cheap violin.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

They “had to find workarounds, whether through open-sourcing software, stacking less powerful and cheaper local chips, investing more in China’s electricity grid.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026

Index funds are much cheaper than active funds so they tend to outperform most of them after expenses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

"He's not yet announced much so it's hard to say ... nothing's going to be easier or cheaper," for pubs or people, rued Moyses.

From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026

"It's a little more approximate than some of the other methods, but it's way cheaper, and we can run it much more directly on lots of harder problems," Stoudenmire says.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026

Suddenly it was cheaper to feed corn to cattle, instead of raising them on hay or grass.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

That’s just code for “firing thousands, if not tens of thousands, of creative people,” Schamus said, and replacing good work with dreck “made for the cheapest price” for the “lowest common denominator.”

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

In 1979, the young city of Carson adopted rent control for its parks, which would lead to some of the cheapest rents in the county, but also put more pressure on landlords to sell.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

At United, the only way to earn frequent-flier miles on the cheapest basic economy tickets is to have a United Airlines credit card.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

Tokyo is the world’s cheapest major city, according to one investment bank’s annual rankings.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

I hear Pop Pop’s voice inside my head, reminding me to order the cheapest thing on the menu “’cause we ain’t Rockefeller.”

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles

Related Words

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