Rip off means to cheat someone by charging them far too much. The verb is informal: I got ripped off means someone took advantage of you. The noun a rip-off is written with a hyphen and describes something that isn't worth the price: That's a rip-off! means “That's daylight robbery!”
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rip somebody off; get ripped off; a rip-off (noun); a rip-off of + film/product
- The taxi driver ripped us off: he charged forty euros for a ten-minute ride.
- Twelve pounds for a sandwich at the airport? That's a total rip-off.
- Tourists often get ripped off at the exchange booths near the station.
What changed
First versionThe taxi driver ripped off me at the airport.
RevisionThe taxi driver ripped me off at the airport.
When the object is a pronoun (me, us, them), it goes between rip and off: ripped me off. Putting the pronoun after off, as in ripped off me, is a common mistake. With a noun, both orders work: rip off tourists and rip tourists off.
A rip-off isn't always about price. People also use it for a film, song or product that is a shameless copy of someone else's: The film is a cheap rip-off of Jurassic Park. A knock-off is a cheap fake of a famous brand: a knock-off handbag.
Your turn
Fifteen pounds for a small coffee? That café is a real ___.
Show the answer
rip-off — The point is the price, far too high for a small coffee, so the word is rip-off, “daylight robbery”. A knock-off is a fake of a brand, and nobody calls an expensive café that.
Describe a time when you paid too much for something you bought or for a service. Say where it happened and how much you paid.
In Rome a street seller ripped me off: I paid twenty euros for a cheap umbrella.
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