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
Synonyms
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
Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 15 Aug. 2024
Latest from Michael Hiltzik Column: Federal regulators step up their campaign against predatory payday lenders and their rip-offs
Column: The CrowdStrike meltdown reminds us that the hacking problem doesn’t come only from outside
Column: Who elected Elon Musk our arbiter of social norms?
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2024
The roof was ripped off Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Rays and a large crane collapsed and smashed into the side of a building in downtown St. Petersburg.
—Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rip-off 
Noun
Fede Álvarez understands that there’s a thin line between an homage, a follow-up and a rip-off.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 15 Aug. 2024
Latest from Michael Hiltzik Column: Federal regulators step up their campaign against predatory payday lenders and their rip-offs
Column: The CrowdStrike meltdown reminds us that the hacking problem doesn’t come only from outside
Column: Who elected Elon Musk our arbiter of social norms?
—Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2024
Verb
Milton also ripped off a portion the roof of a condominium in the area, with satellite images taken over that section of the village showing debris scattered on the ground and spread across the area around it.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2024
The roof was ripped off Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Rays and a large crane collapsed and smashed into the side of a building in downtown St. Petersburg.
—Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes, 11 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rip-off
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rip-off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near rip-off
Cite this Entry
“Rip-off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rip-off. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
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