dupe

¹

[ doop, dyoop ]

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived or fooled; gull.
2. a person who unquestioningly or unwittingly serves a cause or another person:

   a dupe of the opponents.

verb (used with object)

, duped, dup·ing.

1. to make a dupe of; deceive; delude; trick.

dupe

²

[ doop, dyoop ]

noun

1. duplicate.
2. Movies.
   1. a duplicate picture negative used for making additional release prints or for making special effects to be inserted in the release negative.
   2. the procedure for producing such a duplicate.
3. Television. a duplicate videotape obtained by electronic printing of the original videotape.

verb (used with or without object)

, duped, dup·ing.

1. to duplicate.

adjective

1. duplicate.

dupe

/ djuːp /

noun

1. a person who is easily deceived
2. a person who unwittingly serves as the tool of another person or power

verb

1. tr to deceive, esp by trickery; make a dupe or tool of; cheat; fool

Derived Forms

• ˈdupable, adjective
• ˌdupaˈbility, noun
• ˈdupery, noun
• ˈduper, noun

Other Words From

• dup·a·ble adjective
• dup·a·bil·i·ty [doo-p, uh, -, bil, -i-tee, dyoo-], noun
• dup·er noun
• un·dup·a·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dupe¹

First recorded in 1675–85; from French; Middle French duppe for unattested tête d'uppe “head of hoopoe,” i.e., “fool” (compare tête de fou ), from unattested Vulgar Latin uppa, Latin upupa “hoopoe,” a bird thought to be especially stupid; hoopoe

Origin of dupe²

First recorded in 1895–90; by shortening

Word History and Origins

Origin of dupe¹

C17: from French, from Old French duppe, contraction of de huppe of (a) hoopoe (from Latin upupa ); from the bird's reputation for extreme stupidity

Example Sentences

Somehow, boxing has a knack of duping the public.

From BBC

Among the many lies McDonald told the women he duped was that his mother was dying of cancer.

From BBC

“I wanted to see what it would be like for Tegan to interact with these people” who’d been duped into thinking they knew her, the director says.

From Los Angeles Times

The founding fathers, John notes, had a special interest in guaranteeing Americans' access to accurate information — and were worried that foreign bad actors would attempt to dupe the public.

From Salon

But considering that this was a dupe, I wasn’t really bothered by the lack of decorations.

From Salon

Related Words

• baffle
• bamboozle
• betray
• cheat
• deceive
• defraud
• delude
• hoodwink
• mislead
• swindle
• victimize