cheat

[ cheet ]

verb (used with object)

1. to defraud; swindle:

   He cheated her out of her inheritance.

   Synonyms: fool, hoax, con, gull, delude, dupe, mislead

2. to deceive; influence by fraud:

   He cheated us into believing him a hero.

3. to elude; deprive of something expected:

   He cheated the law by suicide.

verb (used without object)

1. to practice fraud or deceit:

   She cheats without regrets.

2. to violate rules or regulations:

   He cheats at cards.

3. to take an examination or test in a dishonest way, as by improper access to answers.
4. Informal. to be sexually unfaithful (often followed by on ):

   Her husband knew she had been cheating all along. He cheated on his wife.

noun

1. a person who acts dishonestly, deceives, or defrauds:

   He is a cheat and a liar.

   Synonyms: swindler, mountebank, phony, fake, fraud, charlatan, dodger, sharper, trickster

2. a fraud; swindle; deception:

   The game was a cheat.

   Synonyms: hoax, trick, artifice, imposture

3. Law. the fraudulent obtaining of another's property by a pretense or trick.
4. an impostor:

   The man who passed as an earl was a cheat.

cheat

/ tʃiːt /

verb

1. to deceive or practise deceit, esp for one's own gain; trick or swindle (someone)
2. intr to obtain unfair advantage by trickery, as in a game of cards
3. tr to escape or avoid (something unpleasant) by luck or cunning

   to cheat death

4. informal.
   whenintr, usually foll by on to be sexually unfaithful to (one's wife, husband, or lover)

noun

1. a person who cheats
2. a deliberately dishonest transaction, esp for gain; fraud
3. informal.
   sham
4. law the obtaining of another's property by fraudulent means
5. the usual US name for rye-brome

Derived Forms

• ˈcheatable, adjective
• ˈcheatingly, adverb
• ˈcheater, noun

Other Words From

• cheata·ble adjective
• cheating·ly adverb
• outcheat verb (used with object)
• un·cheated adjective
• un·cheating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cheat¹

1325–75; Middle English chet (noun) (aphetic for achet, variant of eschet escheat ); cheten to escheat, derivative of chet (noun)

Word History and Origins

Origin of cheat¹

C14: short for escheat

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The reporting shows that the agency’s founder, Luis E. Perez, cast himself as a benefactor for immigrant workers, but in many cases his firms cheated them out of wages and stole their tax payments.

From New York Times

In October, Fury put his side of the story across in an interview with the Daily Mail, in which he denied cheating on Hague.

From BBC

However, it's important to note that festival tickets are distributed on the coach itself, so you can't cheat the system.

From BBC

Republicans have often claimed, without evidence, that Democrats overtaking them in the count is a sign that they are cheating, rather than a matter of logistics.

From Salon

He last left prison in December 2023 and was soon simultaneously seeing several women he met through dating sites, cheating them out of money and even pretending to marry one victim.

From BBC

Related Words

• bilk
• con
• deceive
• defraud
• delude
• dupe
• fleece
• hoodwink
• mislead
• swindle
• trick
• victimize