ripoff
Americannoun
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an act or instance of ripping off another or others; a theft, cheat, or swindle.
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exploitation, especially of those who cannot prevent or counter it.
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a copy or imitation.
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a person who rips off another or others; thief or swindler.
Etymology
Origin of ripoff
First recorded in 1965–70; noun use of verb phrase rip off
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.
Apple’s trade-secret suit against OpenAI echoes what Jobs dubbed a “thermonuclear war” against Google over its Android phone-operating system, which Jobs saw as a ripoff of Apple’s iOS.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Recently, he described this as "possibly the greatest organised ripoff perpetrated on the British people".
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2024
Most thrillingly, Peacock is doing its own ripoff of NFL RedZone, called Gold Zone, in which it’ll offer live whip-around coverage of “every event happening at a given time,” NBC says.
From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2024
And then there’s the scurrilously under-handed ripoff in which a grandparent gets a call saying a grandchild has been involved in an accident or some other emergency, and money must be wired immediately.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2023
Lear wrote on social media on Sunday with the hashtags "ripoff" and "copycat".
From Barron's
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
