- cheat
- cheat n fraud, fake, deceit, deception, *imposture, counterfeit, sham, humbugAnalogous words: hoaxing or hoax, bamboozling or bamboozlement (see corresponding verbs at DUPE): *deception, trickery, chicanery, chicane: charlatan, quack, mountebank, faker, *impostor: swindler, defrauder, cozener (see corresponding verbs at CHEAT)cheat vb Cheat, cozen, defraud, swindle, overreach are comparable when meaning to obtain something and especially money or valuables from or an advantage over another by dishonesty and trickery.Cheat suggests deceit and, usually, tricks that escape or are intended to escape the observation of others{
cheat at cards
}{cheat in a written examination
}{she and her husband had cheated every one with whom they had dealings— Anderson
}{he is not cheated who knows he is being cheated— Coke
}Cozen implies more artfulness or craft and often more allurements than cheat; it usually suggests the victim's loss of something of value to him whether of real worth or not{soldiers cozened of their pay by clever girls
}{cousins, indeed; and by their uncle cozen'd of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life— Shak.
}{the Popular Front —that famous opportunity for men of goodwill to be cozened by the Communists— Poore
}Defraud implies depriving another of something that is his by right whether by taking it from him or by withholding it; the word, however, implies misleading statements or deliberate perversion of the truth more often than it implies craft, artfulness, or wiles{defraud a widow of a piece of property
}{the stockholders held that they had been defrauded by those who reorganized the company
}{thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him— Lev 19:13
}{freedom of speech and press does not include ... the right to deceive or defraud— Neil I
}Swindle implies either gross cheating or defrauding especially by imposture or by gaining the victim's confidence; it usually implies the obtaining of money or something quickly or easily convertible into money by false pretenses{the forger swindled the merchants of the city out of large sums of money
}{the despised Chinese, who were cuffed and maltreated and swindled by the Californians— Brooks
}Overreach implies getting the better of a person with whom one is dealing or negotiating or bargaining by unfair or dishonest means; often it implies cheating or defrauding or swindling{he never made any bargain without overreaching (or, in the vulgar phrase, cheating) the person with whom he dealt— Fielding
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
