Rip-off or rip off

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Grammarist

Rip-off or rip off is an interesting idiom that came into use in the twentieth century. We will examine the meaning of the idiom rip-off or rip off, where it came from, and some examples of its use in sentences.

A rip-off is the act of stealing something or the act of cheating or exploiting someone. Rip-off, a hyphenated compound word, is a noun. Rip off means stealing something or cheating or exploiting someone. Rip off, an open compound word, is a verb. Related terms are rips off, ripped off, ripping off. The term rip-off or rip off is an American expression that came into use in the 1960s and is borrowed from African-American slang. Hippie culture adopted the term and it spread into the general population rapidly.

Examples

HEALTH bosses are to scrap the “rip-off” scheme which sees patients at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary charged £5 to watch two hours’ television. (The Edinburgh News)

If that sentence seems familiar, that’s because it’s a word-for-word rip-off of a synopsis of the popular J.J. Abrams series, Lost. (The Heights)

German artist Martin Wojciechowski (a.k.a. “1010”) is claiming luxury brand Hermès ripped off one of his pieces for its Japan and Korea airport shops. (The New York Post)

Does the Resort 2020 fashion line evoke ‘the playful and colourful mood of a Latin holiday’ or rip off indigenous designs? (The Guardian)