raw deal

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

raw deal (plural raw deals)

1. (idiomatic) A situation in which a person is taken advantage of or treated unfairly; a situation in which a person is led to expect something, but receives either nothing or much less than was expected.

   Synonyms: bum deal, rum deal

   • 1996, "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics and music), “The Night Santa Went Crazy”, in Bad Hair Day‎^[1]:

     The night Santa went crazy
     The night St. Nick went insane
     Realized he'd been gettin' a raw deal
     Something finally must have snapped in his brain

See also

• short end of the stick