1
a
: charging or obtainable at a low price
a good cheap hotel
cheap tickets
b
: purchasable below the going price or the real value
c
: depreciated in value (as by currency inflation)
cheap dollars
2
3
: gained or done with little effort
a cheap victory
talk is cheap
4
of money
: obtainable at a low rate of interest
: for little cost : cheaply
was able to buy it cheap
"It all seems to centre round that bust of Napoleon which I bought for this very room about four months ago. I picked it up cheap from Harding Brothers, two doors from the High Street Station."—Arthur Conan Doyle
obsolete
: bargain see also for cheap, on the cheap
cheap·ish
ˈchē-pish
: relatively cheap : not very expensive
You can't shell out for everyone, but you don't want to offend, either. Here, a list of cheapish ways to bring them over to your side.—Eli Epstein, Houston Chronicle, 6 Dec. 2012
cheapishly
adverb
I am rather surprised you don't get a small yacht of your own. They can be had cheapishly, and if you ran it yourself it couldn't cost as much as Douglas.
—Arnold Bennett, letter, 17 Nov. 1925
Cite this Entry
“Cheap.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheap. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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