Word.ws English Dictionary

rope-a-dopes

rope-a-dopes is the plural of rope-a-dope.

Meaning of rope-a-dope

Noun

rope-a-dope (plural rope-a-dopes)

  1. A technique in which the boxer assumes a defensive stance against the ropes and absorbs an opponent's blows, hoping to exploit eventual tiredness or a mistake.
    • He sounded like a retired boxer who'd specialized in the rope-a-dope.1999, James W Hall, Tropical Freeze
  2. (figuratively) Any strategy where an apparently losing position is assumed in the hope of eventual victory.
    • […] process that in recent years has degenerated, sadly, into one long scorched-earth campaign filled with partisan rancor and legislative rope-a-dope.2002, Steven Hill, Fixing Elections

See all 3 meanings of rope-a-dope

Questions about rope-a-dopes

What is rope-a-dopes the plural of?
Rope-a-dopes is the plural of rope-a-dope.

Words near rope-a-dopes in the dictionary

  1. rope's-ended
  2. rope's-ending
  3. rope's-ends
  4. rope-a-dope
  5. rope-a-doped
  6. rope-a-dopes
  7. rope-a-doping
  8. rope-house
  9. rope-houses
  10. rope-jump
  11. rope-jumps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rope-a-dopes (page history and authors); rope-a-dope (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “rope-a-dopes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rope-a-dopes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.