cheat

English

Etymology

Aphetic form of escheat (“the reversion of property to the state if there are no legal claimants”), from Old French

Pronunciation

Verb

cheat (third-person singular simple present cheats, present participle cheating, simple past and past participle cheated)

  1. (intransitive) To violate rules in order to gain advantage from a situation.
    My brother flunked biology because he cheated on his mid-term.
  2. (intransitive) To be unfaithful to one's spouse or partner.
    My husband cheated on me with his secretary.
  3. (transitive) To manage to avoid something even though it seemed unlikely.
    He cheated death when his car collided with a moving train.
    I feel as if I've cheated fate.
  4. (in modern usage, only used with "cheat someone out of" or "cheat one's way into something") To deceive; to fool; to trick.
    My ex-wife cheated me out of $40,000.
    He cheated his way into office.

Synonyms

  • break the rules

Translations

violate rules to gain advantage
being unfaithful
manage to avoid something

Noun

cheat (plural cheats)

  1. Someone who cheats (informal: cheater).
  2. A card game where the goal is to have no cards remaining in a hand, often by telling lies.
  3. A hidden means of gaining an unfair advantage in a computer game, often by entering a cheat code.

Translations

someone who is dishonest or cheats
card game
unfair advantage in a computer game

Synonyms

Derived terms

See also

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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 02:14