Meaning & use
gypped
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“gypped” is a form of “gyp”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
verbtransitiveoffensiveinformal
Past tense of an informal verb meaning to cheat someone, usually by taking their money or giving them poor value; many people consider it offensive.
Grammar: Takes an object, often with out of: he gypped her out of her savings.
Patterns
- gyp someone
- gyp someone out of something
The seller gypped him out of two hundred dollars by switching the phone for a cheaper model.
She felt gypped when the repair cost three times the quote.
Nobody likes being gypped, which is why people read reviews before buying.
Word forms
| present | gyp |
|---|---|
| third person singular | gyps |
| past participle | gypped |
| -ing form | gypping |
Common combinations
- feel gypped
- I felt gypped after paying full price for a half-finished game.
- get gypped
- Tourists sometimes get gypped by unlicensed taxi drivers.
- gypped out of money
- The old man was gypped out of his pension by a fake charity.
- gypped by a seller
- She was gypped by an online seller who never shipped the order.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cheated
- Cheated is neutral and works in any setting, whereas gypped is informal and carries an offensive history.
- swindled
- Swindled suggests a planned trick to get money, and it is more formal than gypped.
- ripped off
- Ripped off is equally casual but is not tied to an ethnic slur, so it is the safer everyday choice.
- overcharged
- Overcharged is narrower, meaning only that too high a price was demanded, without any hint of a trick.
Word family
Commonly confused: gypped or jipped?
gypped vs jipped
This is just a variant spelling of the same word and has the same offensive background; it is not a different word.
Practice
Which word would be the safest, most neutral replacement in a business email: 'The customer says he was gypped by the contractor'?
Choose one answer.
Cheated is neutral and suitable for formal writing. Gypped and jipped are the same offensive word, and fleeced is informal and figurative.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “gypped”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.