switcheroo
Americannoun
-
switcheroos
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of switcheroo
Explanation
A switcheroo is a surprising change or reversal. If your mom replaced the cookies in a cookie jar with plums, your dad might say, "She pulled the old switcheroo!" Most often, a switcheroo is a joke or trick — a magician might appear to change your ten-dollar bill into a feather, and you could call this a switcheroo. Another kind of switcheroo is simply an abrupt change of direction, like a sudden switcheroo in a movie's plot that leaves you totally confused. Switcheroo was first used, in an informal and joking way, in 1933.
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.
See Examples For:
Nor were they told of the threat that prompted the switcheroo.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
But the sudden and unpublicized switcheroo stunned Wall Street analysts and caused a bit of a mini controversy.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
The great “Shōgun” switcheroo also rocked the limited-series race, but with only five possible nominees, the field remains competitive with 14 shows getting mentions from the panelists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2024
Not everyone was buying the campaign’s explanation for the switcheroo.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
Dad didn’t speak to Mom all morning because of the turkey-tofu switcheroo.
From "A Mango-Shaped Space" by Wendy Mass
“Their switcheroos have been totally in sync. This is super important now as they could have three little newly hatched chicks scurrying around the nest in just about a month or so!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2024
“Communion” ends with a few conceptual switcheroos designed to make you question everything you have seen and heard.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2021
Some networks made some wise switcheroos early on — HBO moved its Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant drama “The Undoing” from a spring premiere date to Oct.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2020
There isn’t, and perhaps never has been, a filmmaker so thoroughly identified with last-act switcheroos, to the extent that Shyamalan’s penchant for twists became a crutch and then a joke.
From Slate ● Jan. 9, 2019
Then, to our eternal embarrassment, Mom pulled one of her Mom switcheroos.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
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.
