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cheat

CHEET/t͡ʃiːt/

Verbcheats, cheating, cheated

Noun pluralcheats

11 meanings of cheat

Practice

  1. 1
    verbintransitive
    To break the rules so you can win or get ahead unfairly.

    Like skipping ahead in a board game when no one is looking.

    Some students cheat during exams to get better grades.

    He cheated on the test and got caught.

    Note
  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    To be unfaithful to your husband, wife, or partner.

    She felt sure her boyfriend would never cheat.

    He cheated on his partner during the long trip.

    Similarstray

    Note
  3. 3
    nouncountable
    A person who breaks the rules to win or get ahead unfairly.

    Nobody wants to play cards with a cheat.

    The referee threw the cheat out of the game.

    Similarcheater

    Note
  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To trick or fool someone, often to take something from them.

    Like fooling someone with a fake story to get their money.

    The salesman cheated her out of her savings.

    They cheat customers by selling fake goods.

    Similarswindle, defraud, deceive, trick, con

    Note
  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A trick used to fool people or take something unfairly.

    The whole scheme was a cheat from the start.

    Buyers soon realized the discount was just a cheat.

    Similartrick, fraud, imposture, imposition

    Note
  6. 6
    nouncountable
    A hidden trick in a video game that gives you an unfair advantage.

    Like a secret shortcut that lets you skip the hard parts.

    He used a cheat to get unlimited lives.

    Typing in the cheat unlocked every level.

    Similarhack

    Note
  7. 7
    verbcolloquialintransitive
    To break your own rules about dieting or training, just to relax or treat yourself.

    I usually cheat on my diet over the weekend.

    She cheated a little and ate some cake.

    Similarindulge, splurge

  8. 8
    verbtransitive
    To escape or avoid something that seemed certain to happen.

    The climber cheated death when his rope finally held.

    They cheat disaster every time the old bridge holds.

    Similarescape, evade, elude, avoid, dodge

    Note
  9. 9
    noununcountable
    A card game where you try to get rid of all your cards, sometimes by lying.

    We played cheat until midnight at the sleepover.

    She won the round of cheat by bluffing about her cards.

    Note
  10. 10
    noununcountable
    A fast-spreading wild grass that grows as a weed in fields.

    The dry hillside was covered in cheat by late summer.

    Ranchers struggle to clear cheat from their pastures.

Less common meaning

  1. 11
    nounobsoleteuncountable
    A kind of cheap, low-quality bread eaten long ago.

    The poorest families lived on cheat and thin soup.

    Where by the way note, that loaves made of pure Wheaten Meal require both more Leaven and more labouring, and more baking than either coarſe Cheat or than Bread Mingled of Meal and Grudgins.
    1746, Thomas Moffett, Christopher BennetHere, Cheat means a cheap, rough kind of bread.
    Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–2, 4, 7–8

This verb came from Middle English acheten, a form linked to the noun below. It replaced the older Old English word beswican.

Meanings 3, 5–6, 9–10

This noun came from Middle English chete, a short form of eschete, meaning property that returns to the state. It goes back through Old French to Latin cadere, meaning to fall.

Meaning 11

This word came from Middle English chet, meaning low-quality bread. Its origin is unknown.