Fromshort +change.
shortchange (third-person singular simple presentshortchanges,present participleshortchanging,simple past and past participleshortchanged)
- (transitive) Todefraud (someone) by giving them lesschange than they should be given after atransaction.
I gotshortchanged! I gave him $10 for a $5 item and he only gave me $1 back.
- (transitive, by extension) Todeprive (someone or something) of somethingdue; totreatunfairly; tocheat,deceive; tohalf-ass.
The elective class was easy, but in the end I wasshortchanging myself by taking it.
This article's sparse discussion of tax policy implicationsshortchanges the subject.
1964 June 16, “Short End of Exchange”, inThe Indianapolis Star, volume62, number11, Indianapolis, Ind., page14:Specific evidence that the United States is beingshort-changed in the cultural exchange program with the Soviet Union has been offered by Representative Michael Feighan of Ohio, chairman of the House subcommittee and the joint Senate House Committee on Immigration and Nationality Policy.
2025 November 7, Cornelia Dean, “James D. Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97”, inThe New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC:Dr. [James D.] Watson’s tell-all memoir, “The Double Helix,” had also provoked his colleagues when it was published in 1968, infuriating them for, in their view, elevating himself whileshortchanging others who were involved in the project.- (Can wearchive thisURL?)
to defraud (someone) by giving them less change than they should be given after a transaction
to deprive (someone) of something due; to treat unfairly
