Antonyms for cheap

Grammar : Adj

Spell : cheep

Phonetic Transcription : tʃip

Definition of cheap

Origin : "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.

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

Example sentences :

Cheap jars are likely to be seconds and will not prove so satisfactory.
Extract from : « Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5 » by Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

Of her own sort, in this single particular, were the two girls with whom she shared a cheap room.
Extract from : « Within the Law » by Marvin Dana

Of course, unless father gives me one for a wedding present, it will be a cheap one.
Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Tillie was no longer the waitress at a cheap boarding-house.
Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart

For slender purses there are cheap boats, cheap railways, and the omnibus.
Extract from : « The Roof of France » by Matilda Betham-Edwards

She had moved to a cheap apartment which she shared with two other girls from the store.
Extract from : « K » by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Borrowed it of an artist who's wintering in Mexico; cheap; just as it stands.
Extract from : « The Bacillus of Beauty » by Harriet Stark

Take the making of soap, that I told you about; there you have it, cheap and good.
Extract from : « In the Midst of Alarms » by Robert Barr

You are to buy The Dutchman as cheap as you can, and run him as your own horse in the Eclipse.
Extract from : « Thoroughbreds » by W. A. Fraser

The other felt hat may be as small and as cheap as you like.
Extract from : « A Woman Tenderfoot » by Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson

Synonyms for cheap

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019