con game

American  

noun

Slang.

1. confidence game.

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Etymology

Origin of con game

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

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

The movies are an industry, a con game with a half-guilty conscience.

From New York Times • May 13, 2021

And despite a few attempts on the director’s part to distinguish authentic art from his parody of art as a vast con game, the film ends on a profoundly anti-art note.

From Washington Post • Feb. 7, 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

Before I get to a serious application, I’d like to mention another con game which works because of confusion about conditional probability.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos