verb

dupe

joop

verb

To trick or deceive someone, usually to gain something from them.

"The scammer duped elderly victims out of their savings."

"She realised too late that she'd been duped into signing a bad contract."

noun

A person who has been tricked or deceived.

"He was just a dupe in a much bigger fraud scheme."

A cheap imitation or knockoff of a genuine product.

"She found a makeup dupe for the expensive designer foundation."

How to Use Dupe

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishTo con someone, a person who's been conned, or (in modern slang) a cheaper copy of a name-brand product.

Memory tip

The "cheap copycat product" sense is now very common online, especially in beauty and fashion contexts.

Trace the full origin ↓

Common pairings

dupe someone into makeup dupe fall for a dupe

duped past tense, duped past tense, dupes plural, dupes plural, dupes singular, dupes singular

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The scammer _____ elderly victims out of their savings.

From French duper, thought to come from an old term for the hoopoe bird, once considered a foolish-looking creature.

chump chumpion cousin cull cully dotterel easy mark fall guy fish gudgeon gull juggins

fish cousin gull idiot fool cull scapegoat chump

lupe coupe troupe Guadalupe cantaloupe

chump chumpion cousin cull cully dotterel easy mark fall guy fish gudgeon gull juggins