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.

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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]

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Example Sentences

"To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say," US opera singer Isabel Leonard responded.

From BBC

The series is certainly an unflattering look at academia, but the cheap shots are pretty cheap, considering all the current acrimony surrounding higher education and the cartoonish way it’s so often portrayed.

From The Wall Street Journal

Baker: Please donate somebody that consistently intimidates opponents into not taking cheap shots at good Kraken players.

From Seattle Times

“I don’t even go there because there were other plays in that game, too, from the other team,” Cronin said, apparently alluding to cheap shots.

From Los Angeles Times

This in some ways can be seen as a cheap shot, easily levelled by any critic.

From BBC

Related Words

• abuse
• affront
• blasphemy
• contempt
• disgrace
• disrespect
• indignity
• invective
• libel
• outrage
• put-down
• scorn
• shame
• slander
• slap
• slight
• snub
• taunt