cheap

1 of 3

adjective

1
a
: charging or obtainable at a low price
a good cheap hotel
cheap tickets
b
: purchasable below the going price or the real value
c
: depreciated in value (as by currency inflation)
cheap dollars
2
a
: of inferior quality or worth : tawdry, sleazy
cheap workmanship
b
: stingy
My uncle was too cheap to pay for dinner.
c
: contemptible because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities
feeling cheap
I felt cheap, full of shame and guilt
3
: gained or done with little effort
a cheap victory
talk is cheap
4
of money : obtainable at a low rate of interest
cheapish adjective
cheapishly adverb
cheaply adverb
cheapness noun

cheap

2 of 3

adverb

: for little cost : cheaply
was able to buy it cheap
"It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought for this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station."Arthur Conan Doyle

cheap

3 of 3

noun

obsolete

Example Sentences

Adjective I always buy the cheapest brand of cereal. curtains made of cheap material He wears a cheap watch that's always breaking. This gas station is cheaper than the one by the highway. Don't be cheap—buy good quality tires for your car.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Pricing and Which One to Buy The first run of 999 VF8s will be the cheaper City Edition Eco and City Edition Plus models, which come with a smaller battery pack and less range. Austin Irwin, Car and Driver, 16 May 2023 Sling is also considered one of the cheaper live streaming services available. Josie Howell | Jhowell@al.com, al, 16 May 2023 Unlike many cheap vertical smokers with thin pot metal walls, the Copperhead is heavy and insulated. Cosmo Genova, Field & Stream, 11 May 2023 This one isn’t quite as cheap, and faces stiff competition from rival Samsung devices. Chris Velazco, Washington Post, 10 May 2023 Best Budget Stroller Cosco Umbrella Stroller $20 at coscokids.com Every dad needs a cheap, light, no-frills option for chucking into the back of a van and navigating nimbly through crowds. Paul Kita, Men's Health, 9 May 2023 Lakers vs Warriors live with Sling (promotional offers, cheapest streaming option) or DirecTV Stream (free trial). oregonlive, 8 May 2023 Impulse buying has become a chronic way to spend time, Baylor University researcher on consumer behavior James Roberts said, exacerbated by constant access to cheaper goods. Ramishah Maruf, CNN, 6 May 2023 Follow every game: Latest MLB Scores and Schedules The Miami Marlins have the cheapest hot dog prices in the league, costing $3. Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 5 May 2023
Adverb
Musk ultimately wants to make space travel cheap enough that even Average Joes can access the cosmos—or Mars. Lauren Sigfusson, Discover Magazine, 20 Feb. 2018 But flying cheap doesn’t matter much if there isn’t anywhere good to fly. Alexandra Skores, Dallas News, 13 Apr. 2023 Low interest rates put in place to support the economy after the Great Recession made borrowing cheap and pushed investors to seek out higher returns from riskier companies, spurring financing and growth for tech companies. Joe Rennison Eli Murray, New York Times, 31 Mar. 2023 Lemieux was on the ice to hoist it, receiving only a two-game suspension for cheap-shotting Draper. Viv Bernstein, Detroit Free Press, 29 May 2021 The tree was usually found on land that had been given away or sold cheap by the federal government—and then had to be repurchased at very high cost. Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Review of Books, 2 Mar. 2023 There are some rough edges, such as the cheap-feeling steering wheel stalks and some of the other switchgear. James Morris, Forbes, 5 June 2021 Modest performance, some cheap-looking interior plastics, clumsy optional dual-clutch transmission. Mike Sutton, Car and Driver, 16 Nov. 2022 This one is on the $260 million worth of players who came up cheap. Los Angeles Times, 19 Oct. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cheap.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Adjective

Middle English chep, from Old English cēap trade; akin to Old High German kouf trade; both ultimately from Latin caupo tradesman

First Known Use

Adjective

1509, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Adverb

1569, in the meaning defined above

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cheap was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near cheap

Cite this Entry

“Cheap.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheap. Accessed 8 Jun. 2023.

Kids Definition

cheap

adjective
ˈchēp
1
a
: available at low cost or at less than the true value
potatoes are cheap right now
b
: of low price
always buys the cheapest brand
c
: charging low prices
always wants to go to a cheap place
2
: gained with little effort
a cheap victory
3
a
: of low quality or value
cheap material wears out quickly
a cheap joke
b
: lowered in one's own opinion
feel cheap
c
: stingy sense 1
don't be so cheap
cheap adverb
cheapen
ˈchē-pən
verb
cheaply adverb
cheapness noun
Etymology

Adjective

from earlier obsolete cheap (noun) "bargain," from Old English cēap "trade" — related to chap entry 3

More from Merriam-Webster on cheap

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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