confidence game

American  

noun

1. any swindle in which the swindler, after gaining the confidence of the victim, robs the victim by cheating at a gambling game, appropriating funds entrusted for investment, or the like.

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confidence game Idioms  

1. Also, confidence trick; con game. A swindle in which the victim is defrauded after his or her trust has been won. For example, The police warned of a confidence game in which people were asked to turn over valuables for a so-called appraisal, or The typical confidence trick is easy to spot if you know what to look for, or I almost let myself be taken in by her con game—she seemed so sincere. These terms, which use confidence in the sense of “trust,” date from the mid-1800s. They also gave rise to confidence man (or con man) for the swindler.

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Etymology

Origin of confidence game

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confidence game

"We're building confidence game by game, and these three points are going to be vital for the end of the season, they can decide a title race."

From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025

People purchase them because they think the value will appreciate “so obviously the confidence game will only work as long as people keep buying.”

From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2023

It’s a confidence game, and you will lose money.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023

A portrait is a confidence game, and some artists are so intent on fooling the viewer that the “almost as if” disappears.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 23, 2021

That was the only time I ever played the confidence game in my life, and my conscience has approved of it ever since.

From The Adventures of a Forty-niner An Historic Description of California, with Events and Ideas of San Francisco and Its People in Those Early Days by Ivanowski, Sigismond de