rip off

verb

1. (tr) to tear violently or roughly (from)

2. slang,  (adverb) to steal from or cheat (someone)

noun

1. slang,  an article or articles stolen

2. slang,  a grossly overpriced article

3. slang,  the act of stealing or cheating

Idioms and Phrases

Steal, as in They fired him when they caught him ripping off some of the merchandise .

Cheat, defraud, as in These advertising claims have ripped off a great many consumers .

Copy, plagiarize, as in He was sued for ripping off someone else's thesis . All three usages are slang from the second half of the 1900s.

Example Sentences

Customers say they feel "completely ripped off" after believing they were buying from independent boutiques in England but were delivered cheap clothes and jewellery, mass-shipped from warehouses in east Asia.

Read more on BBC

After the walkout, writers did secure groundbreaking protections for AI in contracts, but they are still confronting AI models ripping off their work without compensation.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Streeting previously insisted that he would not allow pharma companies to "rip off" taxpayers and described drug companies' approach as "short-sighted".

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I’ve been through too much in music to get ripped off again.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“We will not tolerate party houses that disrupt our neighborhoods and threaten public safety, or sit back while our laws are violated and rent-stabilized housing is ripped off the market,” Soto said in a statement.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• swindle