1
: an act or instance of stealing : theft
also
: a financial exploitation
The so-called deal turned out to be a rip-off.
2
: a usually cheap exploitive imitation
a rip-off of a designer bag
ripped off; ripping off; rips off
1
2
: to copy or imitate blatantly or unscrupulously
The film ripped off a better one made years ago.
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
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
24 June 2026
After the online store’s supply ran out, sellers took to eBay and Etsy with options ranging from official replicas to blatant rip-offs.
—
Chris Gardner,
HollywoodReporter,
10 June 2026
Ella Moore
july 2,
Miami Herald,
2 July 2026
One guy had ripped off the horn from a plastic Viking helmet and was using it to chug beers.
—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
30 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for rip-off
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
From a bird’s eye view, the script (if there was one) may sound like a rip-off of what the unlikely friends got up to before.
—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
24 June 2026
After the online store’s supply ran out, sellers took to eBay and Etsy with options ranging from official replicas to blatant rip-offs.
—
Chris Gardner,
HollywoodReporter,
10 June 2026
Verb
Zimbler is among hundreds of thousands Americans who are ripped off annually in government-impersonation scams.
—
Ella Moore
july 2,
Miami Herald,
2 July 2026
One guy had ripped off the horn from a plastic Viking helmet and was using it to chug beers.
—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
30 June 2026
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 4 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
