1
: an act or instance of stealing : theft
also
: a financial exploitation
2
: a usually cheap exploitive imitation
ripped off; ripping off; rips off
2
: to copy or imitate blatantly or unscrupulously
3
: to perform, achieve, or score quickly or easily
ripped off 10 straight points
Examples of rip-off in a Sentence
Noun
a daring burglary of the art museum that resulted in one of the greatest rip-offs in history
Verb
the teens ripped off the store where they had been working for the summer
the thief ripped off some jewelry as soon as no one was looking
Recent Examples on the Web
Janey Tracey, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
The clues led reporters to the Ozarks, where a tangle of local disputes on Facebook and Google review sites and in local courts ultimately tied the Graceland plot to Findley, a grandmother with a decadeslong history of romance rip-offs, forged checks and bank fraud.
—Jon Schuppe, NBC news, 23 Sep. 2025
Dominic Patten, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025
Your coffee spilled on you, or the tin of your yogurt foil ripped off badly, and this film exists in both those sorts of places.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rip-off
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Noun
Enter Valentine's Day, a generic, cookie-cutter rip-off filled to the brim with A-list stars and Oscar winners.
—Janey Tracey, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
The clues led reporters to the Ozarks, where a tangle of local disputes on Facebook and Google review sites and in local courts ultimately tied the Graceland plot to Findley, a grandmother with a decadeslong history of romance rip-offs, forged checks and bank fraud.
—Jon Schuppe, NBC news, 23 Sep. 2025
Verb
Yet the techno-optimism sweeping the production community is accompanied by a gnawing anxiety about the way established IP is at risk of being ripped off and remixed.
—Dominic Patten, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025
Your coffee spilled on you, or the tin of your yogurt foil ripped off badly, and this film exists in both those sorts of places.
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rip-off
Cite this Entry
“Rip-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rip-off. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.
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