dupe

¹

[doop, dyoop]

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.

verb (used with object)

duped, duping 

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

dupe

²

[doop, dyoop]

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.

verb (used with or without object)

duped, duping 

1. to duplicate.

adjective

1. duplicate.

dupe

/ djuːp /

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived

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

verb

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

Other Word Forms

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

Word History and Origins

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

Origin of dupe²

First recorded in 1895–90; by shortening

Word History and Origins

Origin of dupe¹

C17: from French, from Old French duppe, contraction of de huppe of (a) hoopoe (from Latin upupa ); from the bird's reputation for extreme stupidity

Example Sentences

“One of two things happened. The city got duped and then has basically decided not to do anything ... Or they knew all along that this was going to happen.”

From Los Angeles Times

And just how much has she duped herself?

From Los Angeles Times

The agency, which protects consumers from unfair business practices, accused Amazon of duping people into automatically renewing their Amazon Prime subscriptions through “manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs.”

From Los Angeles Times

“Imagine the terror and horror these victims felt after being duped into believing they were meeting for one reason, only to face inexplicable violence,” Dist.

From Los Angeles Times

McDonald, who runs Lost Art Records, is concerned AI dupes could damage the credibility of artists like Foley, especially for people who don't know their sound.

From BBC

Related Words

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