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
• dupery noun
• duper noun
• undupable adjective

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

Pahlawan's crew would later testify they had been duped into taking part, having believed they were working as fishermen.

Read more on BBC

"The anger, embarrassment and humiliation of the clients who realised they had been duped was palpable in court," he said.

Read more on BBC

As for Trader Joe’s, the brand has made a name for itself selling food dupes, often at a lower price point.

Read more on Salon

Aspiration was part of that effort, the statement said, and Ballmer was “duped on the investment and on some parts of this agreement, as were many other investors and employees.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Amazon agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it duped customers into signing up for its signature Prime service and made it very difficult for them to cancel.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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