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Glite Dictionary
cheap seat

cheap seat

8 3.0
A seat that costs little and has a poor view at an event
  • noun
  • /tʃiːp siːt/
translation icon : asiento barato
  • We were sitting in the cheap seats at the concert, but we still enjoyed the music.
  • sit in the cheap seat
  • cheap seats are sold

And for me being on stage, I want the people in the cheap seats all the way up in the balcony, in the very back to see the pigment and enjoy the show.

Examples

  • We must accept that being in the arena means enduring the hecklers in the cheap seats.

    Blog text (21)

  • I'd be better off sittin' in the cheap seats with some real football people.

    Lone Star (1996)

  • All the way in the cheap seats?

    First Sunday (2008)

  • We were sitting in the cheap seats.

    Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

  • We decided to buy the cheap seats and try our luck with the reserved tables.

    Blog text (21)

  • Maybe they should have judged the runway from the cheap seats.

    Blog text (4)

  • I think it was a cleaner design, a gorgeous color, and you could see it from the cheap seats.

    Blog text (4)

  • The remaining 40,000 of us are in the cheap seats, on the ground floor, in the middle of the square.

    Blog text (21)

  • Anybody can sit in the cheap seats and take your inventory and criticize you.

  • And for me being on stage, I want the people in the cheap seats all the way up in the balcony, in the very back to see the pigment and enjoy the show.

    Vogue

Antonyms

premium
74 4.3

Higher quality and more expensive than normal

How Cheap

cheap seat
8 3.0
nosebleed
  • Informal
4 6.6
balcony
192 1.3

Surface Forms

cheap seat singular
cheap seats plural

Morphology

cheap + seat

The noun phrase 'cheap seat' is transparently compositional: 'cheap' (low cost) modifies 'seat', so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it denotes a low-priced seat. The additional pragmatic inference that such seats often have less desirable locations follows naturally from common pricing logic and standard adjective + noun composition, making the phrase immediately comprehensible.

Etymology

Cheap seat comes from old theaters and stadiums where the cheap seats were high up or far from the stage, so people paid less and had a poor view. That's why 'cheap seat' today means a low-price seat in a less desirable place with a worse view.