| English Dictionary |
CHEAP
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does cheap mean?
• CHEAP (adjective)
The adjective CHEAP has 4 senses:
1. relatively low in price or charging low prices
2. tastelessly showy
3. of very poor quality; flimsy
4. embarrassingly stingy
Familiarity information: CHEAP used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: cheapest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Relatively low in price or charging low prices
Synonyms:
cheap; inexpensive
Context example:
inexpensive family restaurants
Similar:
bargain-priced; cut-price; cut-rate (costing less than standard price)
catchpenny (designed to sell quickly without concern for quality)
dirt cheap (very cheap)
low-budget (made on or suited to a limited budget)
affordable; low-cost; low-priced (that you have the financial means for)
nickel-and-dime (low-paying)
sixpenny; threepenny; tuppeny; two-a-penny; twopenny; twopenny-halfpenny (of trifling worth)
Antonym:
expensive (high in price or charging high prices)
Derivation:
cheapness (a price below the standard price)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Tastelessly showy
Synonyms:
brassy; cheap; flash; flashy; garish; gaudy; gimcrack; loud; meretricious; tacky; tatty; tawdry; trashy
Context example:
tawdry ornaments
Similar:
tasteless (lacking aesthetic or social taste)
Derivation:
cheapness (tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of very poor quality; flimsy
Synonyms:
bum; cheap; cheesy; chintzy; crummy; punk; sleazy; tinny
Similar:
inferior (of low or inferior quality)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Derivation:
cheapness (tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Embarrassingly stingy
Synonyms:
Similar:
stingy; ungenerous (unwilling to spend (money, time, resources, etc.))
Derivation:
cheapness (tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar)
Context examples
I picked it up cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Because he was handy and would come cheap.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He knew I was in the swim down here, and asked me to pick up a good man cheap.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was cheap, that was what it was, like everything else in this house.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Even I, Sitka Charley, am greatly weary, and I think seven hundred and fifty dollars is a cheap price for the labor I do.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
It was a cheap and sordid thing after all, this life, and the sooner over the better.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
Many of the technologies we use every day have been getting smaller, faster and cheaper each year – with the notable exception of batteries.
(New class of materials could be used to make batteries that charge faster, University of Cambridge)
Cheaper methods to mass-produce graphene are needed.
(Smog-eating graphene composite reduces atmospheric pollution, University of Cambridge)
It's one of several recently developed negative emissions techniques that seek to make carbon capture and storage cheaper, safer and more efficient.
(Scientists Turn CO2 into Solid Coal, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
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