cheating

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of cheat.

   The students were cheating on their final exam.

   She confessed to cheating after the proctor reviewed the footage.

   Note

   The -ing form does double duty. After a form of be it builds the progressive (they were cheating), and on its own it works as a gerund (she confessed to cheating). As a gerund it keeps the verb's constructions, as in cheating on an exam, cheating death or cheating a customer. That is how to tell it from the noun for fraud, which takes an article and a plural, cheatings.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   Any deceitful act, such as fraud, trickery, impersonation, taking unfair advantage, or being unfaithful to a partner.

   The widespread cheating in the tournament led to several disqualifications.

   Years of financial cheating finally caught up with the firm's directors.

   Similardishonesty, fraud, deception, trickery, deceit

   Oppositehonesty

   Note

   The noun works two ways. As a mass noun it names a practice (widespread cheating). As a countable noun it names single tricks, and then it can be plural. Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Disowned (1828) condemns "the cheatings and impositions of your pitiful trade," where each cheating is one swindle among many. The range runs from fraud and imposture to infidelity, so the surrounding words decide which kind of betrayal is meant.

3. 3
   adjective

   Being unfaithful or adulterous toward one's spouse or romantic partner.

   The novel centers on a cheating spouse who hides a second family.

   Rumors about her cheating boyfriend spread quickly through the office.

   Similarunfaithful, adulterous, two-timing

   Oppositefaithful, loyal

4. 4
   adjective

   Acting unsportingly or underhandedly, especially against the rules of a game or contest.

   His cheating methods gave him an unfair edge over honest competitors.

   The referee ejected the cheating player from the field.

   Similardishonest, underhanded, crooked, unscrupulous

   Oppositehonest, fair

   Note

   The rule-breaker's adjective, placed before a noun for whoever plays dishonestly: a cheating player, cheating methods. It shares that slot with the "unfaithful" adjective, so context does the sorting. A cheating opponent has broken the rules of a game, while a cheating partner has broken those of a relationship. It can also be graded, as in more cheating or most cheating.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   In filmmaking, the positioning of actors or objects so that shots seem to be taken from different angles in one location when they are not.

   Through clever cheating, the crew made the cramped studio appear as a sprawling mansion.

   The cheating in that sequence convinces viewers the actors stand in two different cities.

   Note

   A filmmaker's term, and not a disapproving one. Joseph V. Mascelli's The Five C's of Cinematography (1965) calls cheating "the sixth C," the art of arranging people, objects or actions during filming or editing. The deception targets the audience's sense of space. A single set can be shot from several setups and still read as one consistent place, with screen geography and eyelines kept matched.

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