cop-out

[ kop-out ]

/ ˈkɒpˌaʊt /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR cop-out ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Informal.

an act or instance of copping out; reneging; evasion: The governor's platform was a cop-out.

a person who cops out: Everyone helped as they had promised, except for one cop-out.

Origin of cop-out

First recorded in 1940–45; noun use of verb phrase cop out

Words nearby cop-out

Copley, cop off, copolymer, copolymerize, copolymer resin, cop-out, Coppelia, copper, Copper Age, copperah, Copper and Stone Age

Dictionary.com UnabridgedBased on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for cop-out

"I wanted to start somewhere and not have the cop-out that you know it when you see it," she says from her Portland, Oregon, home.
What Makes Women Happy?|Marisa Meltzer|February 21, 2010|DAILY BEAST
Carver argued back in a poem: “starving is more of a cop-out.”
Carver Was the Rage|Brad Gooch|December 4, 2009|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for cop-out

cop out

/ slang /

verb

(intr, adverb) to fail to assume responsibility or to commit oneself

noun cop-out

an instance of avoiding responsibility or commitment

a person who acts in this way

Word Origin for cop out

C20: probably from cop 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with cop-out