cheap thrill

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

A brief, exciting experience that is not expensive or meaningful

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Trải nghiệm thú vị ngắn hạn không tốn kém hoặc có ý nghĩa

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: inexpensive excitement
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

The rollercoaster ride was a cheap thrill for the kids

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “cheap thrill” mean?

A brief, exciting experience that is not expensive or meaningful Literally: inexpensive excitement

Is “cheap thrill” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.