rip off
Britishverb
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(tr) to tear violently or roughly (from)
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slang (adverb) to steal from or cheat (someone)
noun
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slang an article or articles stolen
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slang a grossly overpriced article
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slang the act of stealing or cheating
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Steal, as in They fired him when they caught him ripping off some of the merchandise .
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Cheat, defraud, as in These advertising claims have ripped off a great many consumers .
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Copy, plagiarize, as in He was sued for ripping off someone else's thesis . All three usages are slang from the second half of the 1900s.
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.
He described the fuel market generally as a "rip off".
From BBC • Mar. 14, 2026
"Whether it is petrol at the pumps or heating oil, there is no excuse for any business to use this as an opportunity to rip off customers."
From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026
And don’t discount that Chinese chip makers will figure out how to rip off Nvidia’s technology.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025
“Financial rip-offs don’t just rip off Democrats or Republicans,” Kelleher told me.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2025
Determined to finish quickly, I rip off the tails of the bean sprouts as fast as I can.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
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.
