cheaper

adj.inexpensive
adj.inferior, low in quality
adj.low, vulgar
adj.concerned with saving money

Synonyms for cheaper

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Antonyms for cheaper

Word Origin & History

"low in price, that may be bought at small cost," c.1500, ultimately from Old English noun ceap "traffic, a purchase," from ceapian (v.) "trade," probably from an early Germanic borrowing from Latin caupo "petty tradesman, huckster" (see chapman).

The sense evolution is from the noun meaning "a barter, a purchase" to "a purchase as rated by the buyer," hence adjectival meaning "inexpensive," the main modern sense, via Middle English phrases such as god chep "favorable bargain" (12c., a translation of French a bon marché).

Sense of "lightly esteemed, common" is from 1590s (cf. similar evolution of Latin vilis). The meaning "low in price" was represented in Old English by undeor, literally "un-dear" (but deop ceap, literally "deep cheap," meant "high price").

The word also was used in Old English for "market" (cf. ceapdæg "market day"), a sense surviving in place names Cheapside, East Cheap, etc. Related: Cheaply. Expression on the cheap is first attested 1888. Cheap shot originally was U.S. football jargon for a head-on tackle; extended sense "unfair hit" in politics, etc. is by 1970. German billig "cheap" is from Middle Low German billik, originally "fair, just," with a sense evolution via billiger preis "fair price," etc.

Example Sentences forcheaper

I always keep my own; it is cheaper than to depend on the street boys.

It'd be cheaper than coal, I thought; that's why I invented it.

I think myself, as a general rule, it is cheaper to buy them off.

You don't get it done any cheaper by haggling about the price beforehand—I've found that out.'

I give you my advice that it is better for you, and cheaper, to go back to London.

Our friend concludes that it is cheaper to lend umbrellas by retail.

The hay-press makes storage and transportation easier and cheaper.

We do not buy them because they are cheaper, but because they are better.

I can get politics and chat and neighborly conveniences from cheaper companions.

The only thing I found possible was to change to cheaper quarters.