Cop-out - Wiktionary

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• 1 English Toggle English subsection
  • 1.1 Alternative forms
  • 1.2 Etymology
  • 1.3 Pronunciation
  • 1.4 Noun
    • 1.4.1 Translations
  • 1.5 Further reading

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In other projects Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wiktionary, the free dictionary See also: cop out and copout

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

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• copout

Etymology

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Deverbal from cop out.

Pronunciation

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• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

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cop-out (plural cop-outs)

1. (slang) Avoidance or inadequate performance of a task or duty; the action of copping out. His disappearance on the day of the audition was just a cop-out.
   • 2025 July 2, Catherine Shoard, quoting James Cameron, “James Cameron calls Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer a ‘moral cop-out’”, in The Guardian‎[1], →ISSN:“It’s interesting what he stayed away from,” said Cameron. “Look, I love the film-making, but I did feel that it was a bit of a moral cop-out.”
2. (slang) An excuse made in order to avoid performing a task or duty; a reason offered when someone cops out. It was a cop-out to say he couldn't sign the petition because he sprained his wrist.
3. (slang) A person who cops out. He's always a cop-out when there's hard work to be done.
   • 1989 August 12, Kate Rushin, “Is Better Than Hollywood Good Enough?”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 5, page 8:Even when they are talking one-on-one, we aren't allowed to see behind the posturing and emblematic language. The major exception to this is Da Mayor […] who is both scorned and respected, seen as both a cop-out and a hero.

Translations

[edit] avoidance or inadequate performance of a task or duty

Dutch: het terugkrabbelen, het laten afweten, het zich onttrekken German: Rückzieher (de) m, Drückebergerei f, Verpisserei f Italian: furbata f Polish: wymigiwanie się n Spanish: efugio (es) m

an excuse made in order to avoid performing a task or duty — see also excuse,‎ pretext,‎ pretense,‎ evasion,‎ subterfuge

Dutch: smoes (nl) German: Ausflucht (de) f, Ausrede (de) f Italian: pretesto (it) m, scusa (it) f Polish: wymówka (pl) f Russian: отгово́рка (ru) f (otgovórka) Spanish: evasiva (es) f, gambeta (es) f (colloquial)

a person who cops out

Dutch: iemand die afhaakt German: Drückeberger (de) m Italian: scansafatiche (it) m, lavativo (it) m, fannullone (it) m, irresponsabile (it) m Polish: osoba wymigująca się od pracy f

Further reading

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• “cop-out”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “cop-out”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• "cop-out" in the Wordsmyth Dictionary-Thesaurus (Wordsmyth, 2002)

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