cheat
Americanverb (used with object)
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cheats,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheated,
past participle, past
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cheating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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cheats,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheated,
past participle, past
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cheating
present participle
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to practice fraud or deceit.
She cheats without regrets.
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to violate rules or regulations.
He cheats at cards.
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to take an examination or test in a dishonest way, as by improper access to answers.
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Informal. to be sexually unfaithful (often followed byon ).
Her husband knew she had been cheating all along. He cheated on his wife.
noun
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cheats
plural
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a person who acts dishonestly, deceives, or defrauds.
He is a cheat and a liar.
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a fraud; swindle; deception.
The game was a cheat.
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Law. the fraudulent obtaining of another's property by a pretense or trick.
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an impostor.
The man who passed as an earl was a cheat.
verb
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to deceive or practise deceit, esp for one's own gain; trick or swindle (someone)
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(intr) to obtain unfair advantage by trickery, as in a game of cards
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(tr) to escape or avoid (something unpleasant) by luck or cunning
to cheat death
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informal to be sexually unfaithful to (one's wife, husband, or lover)
noun
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a person who cheats
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a deliberately dishonest transaction, esp for gain; fraud
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informal sham
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law the obtaining of another's property by fraudulent means
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the usual US name for rye-brome
Synonym Usage
Cheat, deceive, trick, victimize refer to the use of fraud or artifice deliberately to hoodwink or obtain an unfair advantage over someone. Cheat implies conducting matters fraudulently, especially for profit to oneself: to cheat at cards. Deceive suggests deliberately misleading or deluding, to produce misunderstanding or to prevent someone from knowing the truth: to deceive one's parents. To trick is to deceive by a stratagem, often of a petty, crafty, or dishonorable kind: to trick someone into signing a note. To victimize is to make a victim of; the emotional connotation makes the cheating, deception, or trickery seem particularly dastardly: to victimize a blind man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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cheaternoun
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outcheatverb (used with object)
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cheatableadjective
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uncheatedadjective
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uncheatingadjective
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cheatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cheatsimple
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cheatssimple
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have cheatedperfect
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has cheatedperfect
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am cheatingprogressive
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are cheatingprogressive
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is cheatingprogressive
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have been cheatingperfect progressive
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has been cheatingperfect progressive
Past
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cheatedsimple
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had cheatedperfect
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was cheatingprogressive
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were cheatingprogressive
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had been cheatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cheat
1325–75; Middle English chet (noun) (aphetic for achet, variant of eschet escheat ); cheten to escheat, derivative of chet (noun)
Explanation
To cheat is to use sneaky, unfair methods to get something you want. No one's going to want to play with you if you always cheat at mini golf. Some people cheat at cards, and others cheat during math tests by copying from the student beside them. In either case, they're trying to succeed using underhanded tricks. You can refer to someone who does this as a cheat as well. Cheat comes from the Old French escheat, a legal term for the state taking someone's property when he or she dies without heirs. This practice was resented, and it came to mean "confiscate unfairly."
Vocabulary lists containing cheat
Words for the World Series
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"The Three Chicarrones"
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Unit 18, Lesson 4
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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.
See Examples For:
As students turn to chatbots for schoolwork, teachers and parents also worry that teens will use the tools to cheat or avoid practicing critical thinking skills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Weigh those cons against the things AI has reliably proven it can do – cheat on homework and write janky code – and it’s easy to understand Sanders’ urge to stand and yell “stop!”
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Past findings produced by Wada suggest micro-dosing could evade detection methods, and so the scope to cheat in professional sport remains, meaning all efforts must be taken to ensure nobody beats the system.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Renault will face a criminal trial in France on aggravated fraud charges over accusations that devices in its diesel cars were designed to cheat clean air laws, the public prosecutor's office told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
“Well, at least the little statue can’t cheat at cards like someone else I know.”
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
He even cheats at golf, determined to “win” the game that most depends on personal integrity.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
Athletes, he says, need to be assured the Olympics are clean and cheats will not be tolerated.
From BBC ● May 23, 2026
"People who got here last night have gone to the front, people who cut this morning, whoever cheats and pushes the hardest hits to front."
From Barron's ● May 16, 2026
If tax cheats want to lose money, that’s their problem.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026
Shaggy Hair doesn’t like to play as much as I do, but he doesn’t talk all the time and he never cheats, so I like it when he plays.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, he’s got baggage, he cheated on his wife.’
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Related: ‘I found out too late’: My stepmother cheated me out of $500K from my father’s estate.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Although receipt of the letter does not indicate that someone definitively cheated, an unspecified number of cases have been referred to district attorneys for prosecution, the spokesperson said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
He told the Journal he began the conversation by “coming clean,” telling Regan he had cheated his clients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
She seemed genuinely pleased that he hadn’t cheated, despite having encouraged him to do just that.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Sandoval’s ex, Dillon Maquindang, stood at a podium Thursday morning and decried the defendant for cheating on them, manipulating them and taking out his failures on Maquindang’s family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
He counsels letter writers on how to handle a cheating brother, discuss religion with a devout friend, and avoid spiraling over the fear of being single forever.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
Everyone seems to have formed their own opinion on the alleged cheating scandal enveloping Saltburn Cricket Club, and it's not hard to see why.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
An amateur cricket match has made global headlines after a fielder was accused of cheating by clicking his fingers to get a wicket.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Reynie had to hand it to Rhonda: She might not be smart enough to pass the test, but she was clever enough to get away with cheating on it.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
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.
