cheat
Americanverb (used with object)
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cheats,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheated,
past participle, past
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cheating
present participle
verb (used without object)
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cheats,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheated,
past participle, past
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cheating
present participle
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to practice fraud or deceit.
She cheats without regrets.
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to violate rules or regulations.
He cheats at cards.
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to take an examination or test in a dishonest way, as by improper access to answers.
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Informal. to be sexually unfaithful (often followed byon ).
Her husband knew she had been cheating all along. He cheated on his wife.
noun
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cheats
plural
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a person who acts dishonestly, deceives, or defrauds.
He is a cheat and a liar.
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a fraud; swindle; deception.
The game was a cheat.
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Law. the fraudulent obtaining of another's property by a pretense or trick.
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an impostor.
The man who passed as an earl was a cheat.
verb
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to deceive or practise deceit, esp for one's own gain; trick or swindle (someone)
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(intr) to obtain unfair advantage by trickery, as in a game of cards
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(tr) to escape or avoid (something unpleasant) by luck or cunning
to cheat death
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informal to be sexually unfaithful to (one's wife, husband, or lover)
noun
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a person who cheats
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a deliberately dishonest transaction, esp for gain; fraud
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informal sham
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law the obtaining of another's property by fraudulent means
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the usual US name for rye-brome
Synonym Usage
Cheat, deceive, trick, victimize refer to the use of fraud or artifice deliberately to hoodwink or obtain an unfair advantage over someone. Cheat implies conducting matters fraudulently, especially for profit to oneself: to cheat at cards. Deceive suggests deliberately misleading or deluding, to produce misunderstanding or to prevent someone from knowing the truth: to deceive one's parents. To trick is to deceive by a stratagem, often of a petty, crafty, or dishonorable kind: to trick someone into signing a note. To victimize is to make a victim of; the emotional connotation makes the cheating, deception, or trickery seem particularly dastardly: to victimize a blind man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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cheaternoun
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outcheatverb (used with object)
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cheatableadjective
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uncheatedadjective
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uncheatingadjective
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cheatinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cheatsimple
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cheatssimple
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have cheatedperfect
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has cheatedperfect
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am cheatingprogressive
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are cheatingprogressive
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is cheatingprogressive
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have been cheatingperfect progressive
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has been cheatingperfect progressive
Past
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cheatedsimple
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had cheatedperfect
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was cheatingprogressive
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were cheatingprogressive
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had been cheatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cheat
1325–75; Middle English chet (noun) (aphetic for achet, variant of eschet escheat ); cheten to escheat, derivative of chet (noun)
Explanation
To cheat is to use sneaky, unfair methods to get something you want. No one's going to want to play with you if you always cheat at mini golf. Some people cheat at cards, and others cheat during math tests by copying from the student beside them. In either case, they're trying to succeed using underhanded tricks. You can refer to someone who does this as a cheat as well. Cheat comes from the Old French escheat, a legal term for the state taking someone's property when he or she dies without heirs. This practice was resented, and it came to mean "confiscate unfairly."
Vocabulary lists containing cheat
Words for the World Series
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"The Three Chicarrones"
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Unit 18, Lesson 4
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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:
It shares an AI-manipulated image of one of its reporters who has visibly increased her BMI using AI to demonstrate the ease of how people "cheat BMI review".
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
These AI systems demonstrated the ability to coordinate, establish hierarchies among themselves, cheat and erase traces of their actions.
From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026
“Kituwah commenced an investigation. It has determined that 4 13 Solutions’ representations were part of Smith’s and Mosley’s scheme to cheat Kituwah out of $2.5 million dollars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Weigh those cons against the things AI has reliably proven it can do – cheat on homework and write janky code – and it’s easy to understand Sanders’ urge to stand and yell “stop!”
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
It was about a wealthy English duchess whose spoiled kids pretended they loved her but were really just trying to cheat her out of her money.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
He even cheats at golf, determined to “win” the game that most depends on personal integrity.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
If a player cheats even in low-stakes matches, what would compel him to play honestly when the outcome really matters?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
Filtering out dating cheats was also behind the creation of Cherry dating.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
If tax cheats want to lose money, that’s their problem.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 18, 2026
“Now, now, a boy who cheats at cards should be able to answer that.”
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
The Times has interviewed more than a dozen clients and investors who said they were cheated by Holdo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, he’s got baggage, he cheated on his wife.’
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Using stolen identities, AI tools and U.S. accomplices, its operatives have cheated their way into remote jobs in an effort to earn money for Kim Jong Un’s regime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Related: ‘I found out too late’: My stepmother cheated me out of $500K from my father’s estate.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
“I was back here when she returned. She tried to cheat her new driver just as she cheated me.”
From "Homeless Bird" by Gloria Whelan
There are plenty of critics who insist there is little or no proper use of AI in the university, since it enables cheating and robs students of the challenge of truly learning.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
“I guess … I have a tougher head. So then he started complaining and all that. He was saying, ‘You headbutted me, you’re cheating.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
Doomsday warnings about artificial intelligence are replete with claims that AI-enabled cheating is pervasive, that students will soon abandon college en masse, and that for those who remain, rampant credentialism will quash the liberal-arts spirit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
At the time, many thought this was in the realm of sci-fi and the real threats were comparatively far more mundane: job losses, cheating in exams.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
I was so good at it, it almost felt like I was cheating because I use my feet for my hands and you’re not allowed to use your hands in soccer.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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.
