Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for cop-out

cop-out

[ kop-out ]

noun

, Informal.
  1. an act or instance of copping out; reneging; evasion:

    The governor's platform was a cop-out.

  2. a person who cops out:

    Everyone helped as they had promised, except for one cop-out.



cop out

verb

  1. intr, adverb to fail to assume responsibility or to commit oneself
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


noun

  1. an instance of avoiding responsibility or commitment
  2. a person who acts in this way
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of cop-out1

First recorded in 1940–45; noun use of verb phrase cop out
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of cop-out1

C20: probably from cop 1
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

Back out of a responsibility or commitment; also, take the easy way out. For example, Don't count on him; he's been known to fake illness and cop out , or She'll cop out and let her assistant do all the work . These meanings are derived from the underworld slang use of cop out for backing down or surrendering. [Late 1950s]
Discover More

Example Sentences

The former president urged young people not to “cop out,” before ending on an uplifting call to “create a whole different future.”

Blaming Tucson on the vile language in public discourse is a cop out.

Cop Out was savaged by critics and just barely earned back its $30 million budget.

"I wanted to start somewhere and not have the cop-out that you know it when you see it," she says from her Portland, Oregon, home.

Carver argued back in a poem: “starving is more of a cop-out.”

Meanin' as you'll walk right in on Bud's tough bunch an' cop out d' Kid on y'r lonesome—eh?

Fritz has been over a good bit lately and we have to put out our lights as soon as it gets dark, else we'd cop out for sure.

Suddenly the burglar stopped and called to him softly: "Ain't there a cop out there in front somewhere sparking the girl?"

He knew he was plain pastry for the Sharks, so he would hang around the first Tee waiting to cop out a Pudding.

Brownlee excused himself and followed the cop out, leaving me to explain things to His Grace.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement