cheap shot

English

Alternative forms

• cheap-shot, cheapshot

Noun

cheap shot (plural cheap shots)

1. A deliberate, unsportsmanlike, and potentially illegal act of aggression against an opponent.

   Attacking a goalie trying to make a save is a total cheap shot, I think.

2. (by extension) A remark that unfairly disparages an obvious vulnerability of the target.

   Synonyms: potshot, low blow

   School bullies always take cheap shots at kids with glasses.

   • 2012 October 16, Conor Friedersdorf, “Jennifer Rubin Takes a Cheap Shot at Hillary Clinton”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     It's a charge Rubin breezily makes while dredging up the fact that, years ago, Clinton got cheated on, itself a cheap shot that is irrelevant to the controversy at hand.

   • 2019 September 13, Timothy Egan, “It Will Take More Than Cheap Shots to Knock Off Biden”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     He got right to it with an opening jab against “old ideas,” and then a direct slap, asking Biden: “Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?” Um, no. It was a big backfire, a cheap shot that fell to the floor.