dupe

¹ American  

[doop, dyoop] / dup, dyup /

noun

1. duplicate.

2. Movies.

   1. a duplicate picture negative used for making additional release prints or for making special effects to be inserted in the release negative.

   2. the procedure for producing such a duplicate.

3. Television. a duplicate videotape obtained by electronic printing of the original videotape.

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verb (used with or without object)

duped, duping

1. to duplicate.

adjective

1. duplicate.

dupe ² American  

[doop, dyoop] / dup, dyup /

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived or fooled; gull.

2. a person who unquestioningly or unwittingly serves a cause or another person.

   a dupe of the opponents.

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verb (used with object)

duped, duping

1. to make a dupe of; deceive; delude; trick.

dupe British  

/ djuːp /

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived

2. a person who unwittingly serves as the tool of another person or power

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verb

1. (tr) to deceive, esp by trickery; make a dupe or tool of; cheat; fool

Other Word Forms

• dupability noun
• dupable adjective
• duper noun
• dupery noun
• undupable adjective

Etymology

Origin of dupe¹

First recorded in 1895–90; by shortening

Origin of dupe¹

First recorded in 1675–85; from French; Middle French duppe for unattested tête d'uppe “head of hoopoe,” i.e., “fool” (compare tête de fou ), from unattested Vulgar Latin uppa, Latin upupa “hoopoe,” a bird thought to be especially stupid; hoopoe

Example Sentences

Thanks to rapid advances in artificial intelligence, the cybercriminals seeking to dupe you into handing over your retirement funds or revealing company secrets are getting smarter and stronger.

From The Wall Street Journal

It took a hit this week after former executives accused it of manipulating markets to dupe consumers into buying its products.

From Los Angeles Times

Rachael has been buying skincare dupes from high street stores and supermarkets for years, and she's not alone.

From BBC

Billions of dollars have been lost globally by victims of romance scams, people duped into get-rich-quick crypto schemes and elderly people investing their retirement money into bogus funds, many of which originate from these centres.

From BBC

They couldn’t use a dupe or someone of questionable reliability for an operation of this magnitude.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• baffle
• bamboozle
• betray
• cheat
• deceive
• defraud
• delude
• hoodwink
• mislead
• swindle
• victimize