dirt cheap
14
2.8
- idiom
- /dɜrt ʧip/
- Informal
:
baratísimo
- And what more, they are offering the W8 Pro version at a dirt-cheap rate now; the offer ends in January.
- dirt cheap prices
- dirt cheap PCs
- dirt cheap rent
Yeah, I got this for dirt cheap because it was broken.
- Yeah, I got this for dirt cheap because it was broken.
- I was able to go shopping for really dirt cheap stocks.
- We all need water, and yet water is dirt cheap.
- And then what it also shows is how many people also bought that dirt cheap item.
- But I did pick very affordable products so that we keep this a full face of dirt cheap makeup.
- And I just, I can't believe it's so dirt cheap.
Examples
-
Yeah, I got this for dirt cheap because it was broken.
-
I already found someplace to stay... dirt cheap.
-
And the cost of living is dirt cheap, right?
-
Um, sometimes, but I still get to go to the football games and the bars are dirt cheap.
-
England and Scotland are dirt cheap compared to Australia, Norway, and various other places.
Blog text (20) -
And advances in technology have made storage equipment dirt cheap.
Academic text (2004) -
You can get a 3-day pass for dirt cheap compared to typical festival pricing.
Blog text (19) -
I don't know this concealer and it's dirt cheap but it's really good.
-
Weyland International sells this stuff dirt-cheap.
-
I found this jacket at a thrift store, and it was dirt cheap.
Synonyms
307
2.1
Not too expensive for most people to buy
42
2.0
Cheap to buy and easy to afford
Antonyms
How Cheap
Surface Forms
Morphology
dirt + cheap
The adjective 'cheap' (inexpensive) combined with 'dirt' (soil/filth) yields a metaphorical intensifier meaning 'extremely inexpensive.' While a learner who knows both words can likely infer basic cheapness, the degree-marking use of 'dirt' is an idiomatic/metaphorical extension rather than purely compositional, so full meaning (the emphatic 'very') is not completely predictable without exposure.
Etymology
The idiom dirt cheap comes from the image of dirt as very common and low in value. So if something is as cheap as dirt it feels almost free, and today the phrase means 'to cost very little'.