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to get rich quick

to get rich quick

3 6.2
To become rich very quickly, often by risky or dishonest methods
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : hacerse rico rápidamente
  • Many people fall for scams that promise to get rich quick without hard work.
  • get-rich-quick scheme

So if when you're trying to get rich quick, the temptation is to use leverage.

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Examples

  • Now, if you were thinking about going to the colonies and you really wanted to get rich quick, the West Indies was the place to go.

  • People thought they'd have a shot to get rich quick—all IPOs like this go up 100% on the first day, right?

    Blog text (19)
  • Not looking to get rich quick.

  • The best way to get rich quick is do what all the smart people are doing.

  • Everyone wants to get rich quick and easy.

    Blog text (11)
  • No matter what you do, players will figure out some way to game your system, break it, and get rich quick.

    Blog text (32)
  • I had no belief that I was going to get rich quick.

    Blog text (34)
  • Our ads actually say they can get rich quick.

  • And Spax can be a great way to get rich quick or lose a lot very, very quickly.

  • Everybody thinks that everyone is going to get good-paying jobs and get rich quick.

    Blog text (14)

Synonyms

to make a fortune
vsto get rich quick
54 3.2

To earn a lot of money, often in a short time

often implies quick wealth obtained through risky or questionable actions
to make a killing
vsto get rich quick
  • Informal
21 4.9

To earn a lot of money very quickly and easily

involves fast wealth gain often using risky or questionable methods
to rake in a fortune
vsto get rich quick
  • Informal
1 4.3

To earn a lot of money quickly with little work

focuses on speedy gain often involving risky or questionable methods

How Fast

to get rich quick
  • Informal
3 6.2
to earn
780 1.0
to save up
87 2.6

Surface Forms

get rich quick infinitive
getting rich quick present participle
gets rich quick third person singular
got rich quick past participle

Morphology

get + rich + quick

The meaning 'to acquire wealth rapidly' is directly compositional from 'get' (become/obtain) + 'rich' (wealthy) + 'quick' (rapidly), so a B1 learner who knows the words can infer 'become wealthy quickly'. The additional connotation about questionable methods is a pragmatic extension but does not block basic comprehension; this motion/state composition is cross-linguistically common.

Etymology

Get rich quick comes from old ads and scammers who promised a secret trick to get rich quick, like a magic formula or an easy investment that would make someone wealthy overnight. That's why the expression now warns about trying to become rich very fast, often by 'risky' or dishonest 'schemes'.