con game
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of con game
First recorded in 1950–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Stefan Pildes promoted SantaCon as an event grounded in charitable giving, but instead of donating the millions of dollars he raised, he ran his own con game," US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2026
Great acting is a con game, of the highest order, and it’s a pleasure to be Moore’s mark.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2023
In this 1994 novel, the very title is subversive, a Bengali corruption of the English “Herbert,” and protagonist Harbart Sarkar runs a con game: “Conversations With the Dead.”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 22, 2019
In the mid-’90s, Raniere signed a consent order that didn’t admit wrongdoing, but did force him to agree he’d never initiate another con game of that exact variety.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2018
In the spirit of their shipboard con game, they continued to spin out false histories for themselves, inventing brothers and sisters with plausible names, cousins with moral shortcomings, in-laws with facial tics.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
