cheap shot

noun

1
: an act of deliberate roughness against a defenseless opponent especially in a contact sport
taking cheap shots at the quarterback
2
: a critical statement that takes unfair advantage of a known weakness of the target
cheap-shot
ˈchēp-ˌshät How to pronounce cheap shot (audio)
transitive verb

Examples of cheap shot in a Sentence

He took a cheap shot at the quarterback. a cheap shot to the back of the head The remark about his weight was a cheap shot.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Call it a collision (as the Panthers did at the time) or a cheap shot (as the Bruins did), but the bad blood was there. — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 12 Mar. 2025 Part of the problem could be that, as many in the fashion world have noted, the prosthetic boobs felt like a cheap shot at internet virality that distracted from the actual clothes. — Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 11 Mar. 2025 Let’s cheap shot Sankey and the SEC after the fact. — Blake Toppmeyer, The Tennessean, 5 Apr. 2024 The Bruins, fuming over Sam Bennett’s cheap shot that knocked out captain Brad Marchand in Game 3, had taken a 2-0 lead in Game 4 and, with the Garden rocking, Pat Maroon dramatically and quite obviously challenged Bennett to a fight. — Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 5 June 2024 See All Example Sentences for cheap shot

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cheap shot was in 1971

Rhymes for cheap shot

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Browse Nearby Words

cheap out
cheap shot
cheapskate
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cheap shot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheap%20shot. Accessed 6 Apr. 2025.

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