to cheat on
323
3.3
- phrasal verb
- /tʃit ɑn/
- NSFW
:
ser infiel a
- Long ago, back when they were hardly more than children, my mother cheated on my father.
- cheat on one's partner
- cheat on one's husband
- cheat on one's wife
As it just so happens, Celine's ex cheated on her with Kaya.
- As it just so happens, Celine's ex cheated on her with Kaya.
- Well, and This is why you're cheating on your partner.
- So you Bree said Bryce Hall cheated on Addison on your podcast.
- And it's about I cheated on her, but I still love her.
- So maybe he hasn't cheated on his wife with a woman.
- The first one where the the guy cheated on his fiance with his sister.
- Because Liam Payne got caught cheating on his fiance a couple weeks ago.
- But so he cheats on on her with his best friend's girlfriend as well.
- And of course, do not let her cheat on you and get away with it.
- When someone cheats on you, should you stay or should you go?
- And she learns that her father cheated on her mom.
- She said Nicki cheated on her man with me.
- No, you cheated on me, you idiot.
- So what's the difference between that and being cheated on by somebody who's not a narcissist?
- I'm asking because she cheated on me and I found out I was all three.
- I think mom cheated on dad and I said, OK, well, couple things.
Examples
-
My fiance cheated on me with a dude.
-
My husband Sonny cheated on me in June last year.
-
The title is my husband is cheating on me with my best friend.
-
Do all men cheat on girls?
-
Which is why men and women cheat on each other, I suppose.
Fiction book (1992) -
How could you cheat on me with a bum like that?
-
I think my boyfriend's cheating on me with my God sister.
-
So I found my missus is cheating on me, which is bad enough.
-
And then it came out that he'd been cheating on me the whole time pretty much.
-
She caught her boyfriend cheating on her with a co-worker.
Synonyms
652
7.4
To have sex with someone
265
4.0
To have sex with someone who is not your partner
76
4.6
Have sex with someone who is not your partner
35
8.3
To have sex with someone who is not your husband or wife
19
9.5
To have sex with someone who is not your husband or wife
16
8.0
Having a secret romantic or sexual relationship with someone else while you have a partner
10
8.8
To have sex with many people without a steady partner
9
9.1
Having sex with many different people without a steady partner
8
7.9
To have sex with someone outside your relationship
6
9.1
To have sex with someone
5
8.7
To have sex with someone else while you have a partner
4
9.9
To cheat on your husband
1
9.9
To have sex with someone, used in informal British English
Not faithful to a partner by having a romantic or sexual relationship with someone else
How Unfaithful
Surface Forms
Morphology
cheat + on
The verb 'cheat' already encodes the relevant sense of being romantically or sexually unfaithful, and the preposition 'on' functions transparently to mark the person who is the target of that action (cheat on someone). This composed meaning is predictable from the constituents and is a common construction cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Cheat on may come from the idea of cheat meaning 'to trick' and on showing the action is aimed at someone. Picture a person secretly breaking the rules of a relationship behind their partner's back — that image explains why it means 'to be unfaithful'.