cheap shot

noun
1.
a covert, unsportsmanlike, and illegal act of deliberate roughness, especially in football, often calculated to injure an opponent.
2.
any mean or unsportsmanlike remark or action, especially one directed at a defenseless or vulnerable person.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Slang Dictionary

cheap shot definition


  1. n.
    a remark that takes advantage of someone else's vulnerability. : It's easy to get a laugh with a cheap shot at cats.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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00:10
Cheap shot is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

cheap shot

An unfair or unsporting verbal attack, as in You called him an amateur? That's really taking a cheap shot. The term originated in sports, especially American football, where it signifies deliberate roughness against an unprepared opponent. [Slang; second half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences
Its a rather cheap shot to lie about what someone said and then use your own
  fabrication as proof the other guys is lying.
It was a cheap shot, and it's important to set the record straight.
But with the goal of understanding, not taking the cheap shot.
But you also knew he'd never belittle you, he'd never take a cheap shot.
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