cheapen
Americanverb (used with object)
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cheapens,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheapened,
past participle, past
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cheapening
present participle
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to make cheap or cheaper.
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to lower in esteem; bring into contempt.
Constant swearing cheapened him.
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to decrease the quality or beauty of; make inferior or vulgar.
She cheapened the dress by adding a fringe to it.
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Archaic. to bargain for.
verb (used without object)
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cheapens,
present (3rd person singular)
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cheapened,
past participle, past
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cheapening
present participle
verb
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to make or become lower in reputation, quality, etc; degrade or be degraded
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to make or become cheap or cheaper
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cheapensimple
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cheapenssimple
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have cheapenedperfect
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has cheapenedperfect
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am cheapeningprogressive
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are cheapeningprogressive
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is cheapeningprogressive
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have been cheapeningperfect progressive
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has been cheapeningperfect progressive
Past
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cheapenedsimple
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had cheapenedperfect
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was cheapeningprogressive
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were cheapeningprogressive
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had been cheapeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cheapen
1555–65; cheap + -en 1; replacing Middle English chepen (> obsolete English cheap (v.)) to price, bargain, Old English cēapian to bargain, trade, buy; cognate with Old Norse kaupa, Gothic kaupōn, German kaufen
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:
“East of the River” washes away the stain of criminalization that local media used to cheapen Ever’s life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
The Japanese government doesn’t want its currency to cheapen dramatically; that makes it more expensive for Japanese citizens to buy what they need.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
Some customers on social media fretted that Anta, a mass-market brand, might cheapen the reputation of Arc’teryx.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025
But the bad vibes of “Artificial Angels” persist, not just because the name does what it can to cheapen Grimes’ 2015 masterwork “Art Angels,” which sees its tenth anniversary hit this very month.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
Finally he spoke the three simple words that no amount of bad art or bad faith can ever quite cheapen.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
“Chill on the AI it cheapens the brand,” one wrote on Instagram.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
"If a university is willing to look the other way and not hold faculty accountable for engaging in academically dishonest behavior, it cheapens its mission and the value of its education," Ms Fox said.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2023
He’s incapable of not playing all out, believing it cheapens the game and himself.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 27, 2023
To make his case, Paul argues that consumers benefit from a popular business tactic in Big Tech called "vertical integration," where a company streamlines and cheapens its operations by owning multiple stages of production.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2022
It cheapens everything, doesn’t it, if this man thinks we’re only giving him everything we have on us because we may not have any use for it ten minutes from now.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
As these markets have cheapened, investors may want to look at deeply discounted BDCs and closed-end junk-bond and leveraged-loan funds.
From Barron's ● Mar. 27, 2026
"It cheapened the film for me," agrees Gemma Haynes, while another fan, Nastassja Loots, says it "looks fake and people can see through it".
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
Years of sluggish economic growth have cheapened British assets, making the U.K. a happy hunting ground for private-equity firms and the world’s rich.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025
Lithium batteries have cheapened at a comparable pace, and the cost of wind turbines has dropped steadily too, albeit at a slower rate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024
Sitting there in the half-darkness, Ben felt cheapened, irreparably damaged by this girl he had known most of his life.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Far from cheapening the brand, Ferrari’s rabid base of superfans only enhances the brand’s appeal to clients who can afford to pay millions of dollars for a car they will rarely drive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
This time, we’re seeing the actor’s answer to “The Studio,” only instead of satirizing the industry’s artistically cheapening franchise obsession, it warns of the full extinction of originality by way of ChatGPT.
From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2026
"The way they do their buffet and their salad bar, it feels like they are cheapening on their quality and have lower standards...They're giving away so much food and you're like 'How?'"
From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2025
On the energy front, motor fuel may be cheapening, but fuel and electricity for home use are still pricey.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2024
Perhaps he thought that this was not cheapening his name.
From From the Easy Chair, series 3 by George William Curtis
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.
