From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrip somebody/something ↔ off phrasal verb informal1 BBTEXPENSIVEto charge someone too much money for something SYN overcharge The agency really ripped us off.2 SCCSTEALto steal something Somebody had come in and ripped off the TV and stereo.3 to take words, ideas etc from someone else’s work and use them in your own work as if they were your own ideas SYN plagiarize → rip-off(2) → rip→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
rip off• Dealers may like people to take E, but this doesn't stop them ripping the users off.• It occurred to Hicks that there would be absolutely nothing dishonorable in ripping him off.• Most men I know would be ripping my clothes off by now.• I felt him rip the tape off my hands, but he kept my left arm in a hammer lock.• When you rip the cloth off the umbrella, is the umbrella still an umbrella?• The husband tried to seize a portrait of her, an oil painting, rip it right off the wall.• I crushed up the cockroach in my clothes and practically ripped my blouse off, there in open sunlight.• But the waves surging across the raft had ripped the lids off three of the four tubs.rip-offˈrip-off noun [countable] 1 informalEXPENSIVE something that is unreasonably expensive The meal was a rip-off and the service was appalling.2 music, art, films etc that are rip-offs copy something else without admitting that they are copiesrip-off of a rip-off of a hit movie → rip off at rip1Examples from the Corpus
rip-off• Would a flat tax save taxpayers money and time, or is it a rip-off that would help only the rich?• It was an electronic piano keyboard, a rip-off of the Yamaha instrument that was a big Christmas seller in the States.• It's still a rip-off and anyway, what does he think it will pay for?• We shouldn't have gone there - it was such a rip-off.• Makes this other offer of a chance to win $ 100 look like a cheap rip-off.• Last year, 114 cases with 236 victims and more than $ 18 million in estimated rip-offs led to 11 criminal convictions.• This band is nothing but a Pearl Jam rip-off, with no original sound of its own.• Other rip-offs in the past have centred on everything from gold bullion to currency trading.• Unless there are safeguards in the Bill, there will be asset stripping and property rip-offs on a grand scale.• I've seen the movie, plus all the rip-offs and sequels.From Longman Business Dictionaryrip somebody → off phrasal verb [transitive] informal to charge someone too much money for something, or sell someone a product that is faultyWe all hate being ripped off. → rip→ See Verb tablerip-offˈrip-off noun [countable] informal1something that is unreasonably expensiveThe survey found that most dieters thought diet programs were a big rip-off.2something that is a copy of something elseThe high street stores are selling cheap rip-offs of his designs. 