cheat sheet
Americannoun
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a sheet of paper or a digital document containing information used by a student for cheating on an exam or in the classroom.
She had a cheat sheet for the history test with a list of the correct answers.
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a document containing notes or other aids used as a reference in studying or remembering certain information.
I used a cheat sheet with statistics and bar graphs to prepare for my radio interview.
Etymology
Origin of cheat sheet
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
Scientists have uncovered evidence that evolution has relied on the same genetic "cheat sheet" for more than 120 million years, raising the possibility that life on Earth may be more predictable than once believed.
From Science Daily • May 4, 2026
There are ways to compress information to fit more of it onto this cheat sheet but it still fills up quickly.
From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026
Here’s a year-end cheat sheet for making the most of it.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 19, 2025
The pros I spoke with offered this “common clutter” cheat sheet using a spectrum from “don’t bother” to “you’re sitting on a fortune”:
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 8, 2025
Back when JPL's Nerd Brigade hacked the rover and Pathfinder to be a poor man's IM client, they sent me a cheat sheet for troubleshooting.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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.
