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
Writer-director Byun Sung-hyun lets “Kill Boksoon” sprawl out too much; and the characters’ intricate rules and jargon are so much like “John Wick” that at times this movie feels like a ripoff.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
War Gods Zeus of Child is pretty clearly some kind of God of War ripoff that somehow slipped through the cracks and was published on the Xbox store.
From The Verge ● Aug. 2, 2022
Definitions 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.
