to rip off
76
6.5
- phrasal verb
- /rɪp ɔf/
- Informal
:
timar
- He felt cheated when he realized the mechanic had attempted to rip him off with unnecessary repairs.
- get ripped off
- trying to rip off
And it really involves a lot of ripping off of his own clients.
- And it really involves a lot of ripping off of his own clients.
- So he is just ripping people off and lying to them.
- It's all a money grab to RIP you off and rob you of your wealth.
- Oh what did the did the Chinese scammers RIP off the other Chinese scammers?
- That's because the Fed and all those pH DS ripped us off.
- But the the thing we'd caution against is just getting ripped off in an opportunistic way.
- Anybody who does mind reading and tells you it's real is ripping you off.
- That's the reason people like me, we're not ripping you off on eBay.
- I love when people are like, we're doing this for charity and they'll RIP it off and not even put the link to charity.
- Like not just money grubbing, trying to RIP people off.
- Otherwise you're going to get, what's the word ripped off.
Examples
-
Joel still could not believe that the old bastard had ripped him off in the end.
Fiction book (1992) -
I can recommend a good investigator who won't rip you off.
-
Now, why would I wanna try to rip you off?
-
You say yourself you have been ripped off; what did they do for you?
Blog text (1) -
How can our own public officials RIP us off this badly?
-
Must have gotten ripped off on that thing.
-
Meanwhile, I'm being ripped off for $1 million.
-
So he is just ripping people off and lying to them.
-
They were gonna rip you off.
-
They found that Murdoch was ripping clients off left and right.
Synonyms
474
1.2
To act dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage
73
6.4
To charge someone a much higher price than usual
61
7.3
To trick someone into giving their money or things
20
3.9
To trick someone into giving money or their things
20
5.5
To cheat someone and take their money by lying
18
3.4
To ask someone for more money than a fair price
14
8.5
Charge someone too much money
14
9.9
To charge someone too much money
4
8.9
To cheat someone out of money or things by tricking them
1
8.8
To give someone a fake or low quality thing and pretend it is real
1
9.1
Take money secretly from payments, often in an illegal way
How Dishonest
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'rip' (to tear) and 'off' (remove) yield a clear image of forceful removal, which relates metaphorically to taking someone's money or value. However, the specific commercial/deceptive sense 'to cheat or overcharge' is an extended, idiomatic use that is not fully predictable from the literal parts, so learners who know the words may only partly infer the meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Rip off meaning to cheat or overcharge may come from the idea of tearing something away from you, but this time it is your money or value that is taken. So the phrase means 'to cheat' someone or 'to charge too much'.