raw deal
13
4.4
- noun
- Informal
:
trato injusto
- A lot of people think the system gave her a pretty raw deal.
- getting a raw deal
- giving him a raw deal
- felt like a raw deal
But if you go back rear view mirror, like do you think he got a raw deal at this point?
- But if you go back rear view mirror, like do you think he got a raw deal at this point?
- And you say that looking desperate may get you a raw deal or it may not, may not be as favorable.
- Yes, and you say that looking desperate may get you a raw deal or it may but may not be as favorable.
Examples
-
Many employees feel they received a raw deal when their bonuses were cut unexpectedly.
-
Workers get a raw deal.
Fiction book (2000) -
you got a raw deal out of things
-
And I think you got a raw deal.
-
Sometimes, some people get a raw deal.
-
Do you think you got a raw deal?
-
I guess you women have a raw deal.
-
You got such a raw deal.
-
Sounds like you got a raw deal.
-
In citing these words, King was not being naive; he knew that black Americans had been handed a raw deal.
Academic text (2003)
Synonyms
22
4.0
Hurting or being unfair to people and animals
1
8.4
Unfair treatment of someone, often by cheating them
Antonyms
How Unfair
Surface Forms
Morphology
raw + deal
The sense 'unfair or harsh treatment' is partially derivable because 'raw' can mean harsh/cruel and 'deal' can mean treatment or bargain, so a learner who knows these senses could plausibly infer the figurative meaning. However, 'raw' more commonly has non-figurative senses (e.g., uncooked, exposed) and the collocational meaning is a metaphorical extension rather than strictly compositional, making it somewhat predictable but not fully transparent.
Etymology
The expression raw deal may come from the image of someone left raw and sore after rough treatment. A deal that leaves you hurt feels unfair, so the phrase came to mean 'unfair or harsh treatment'.