shortchange
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to give less than the correct change to.
-
to deal with unfairly or dishonestly, especially to cheat.
Other Word Forms
- shortchanger noun
Etymology
Origin of shortchange
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
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.
To be clear, we don’t want to shortchange our daughter just because the focus seems to be on the boys.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 6, 2026
But some economists and academics say that would shortchange taxpayers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 4, 2025
But that would shortchange “Severance,” which takes another run at a corporate world run amok, detailing it in ways that are far more unsettling than anything in the latest season of “Squid Game.”
From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2025
Preschool-age children are the most difficult age group to count and are regularly missed during the nation’s head count, an oversight that can shortchange communities of federal funding for programs like Head Start.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 11, 2024
To make sure that workers at state farms do not shortchange the military, the army stations soldiers at all three thousand of them throughout the harvest season.
From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden
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.
