flimflam
Americannoun
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a trick or deception, especially a swindle or confidence game involving skillful persuasion or clever manipulation of the victim.
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a piece of nonsense; twaddle; bosh.
verb (used with object)
noun
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nonsense; foolishness
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( as modifier )
flimflam arguments
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a deception; swindle
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flimflam
First recorded in 1530–40; gradational compound of expressive origin
Explanation
A flimflam is a type of scam or con. If you're smart and savvy enough to recognize a flimflam, you won't get cheated out of your money. When someone plans a complicated scheme for tricking people out of their property or money, it's a flimflam. Many flimflams are some version of a con, or "confidence game," in which the con artist first gains the trust (or "confidence") of the victim, and then swindles money from him. You can also use flimflam as a verb: "He tried to flimflam me out of my entire bank account."
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.
See Examples For:
That Castaneda’s books were largely flimflam isn’t in dispute.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026
He has spent the past two years framing his former partner as “Scam Altman”—something of an AI-era flimflam man.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
He's almost certainly lying about that, of course, but this rhetorical flimflam is still quite revealing.
From Salon ● Nov. 17, 2023
You can no longer flimflam an aura of general righteousness.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2022
My blood ran cold thinking ’bout how this boy thought this was all a flimflam, and now he’d gone and let this horrible-looking man snatch ahold of his soul!
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
A stockbroker later admitted he’d flimflammed the producers.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 13, 2019
From Cleveland this June, he flimflammed red-bearded, righthanded Pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, 4-5 with the Indians to that point, 16-1 with the Cubs since then.
From Time Magazine Archive
A few years later, he flimflammed an American firm that sought to print banknotes for the Chinese.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some 20,000 Omahans joined "whiskers clubs" to act as unpaid extras, Omaha's obliging womenfolk togged themselves out in 1869 costumes, Omaha's stores and bars were flimflammed with pioneer signs and doodads.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Am I to be flimflammed, after paying the money in good faith?" demanded Ruggles.
From Uncle Sam's Boys as Lieutenants or, Serving Old Glory as Line Officers by H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock
As I said, flimflamming people to give them money is bad, but that’s not necessarily criminal.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Fancy language, senator. I will duel you at dawn you charlatan, you mountebank, you mendacious flimflamming dissembler. Bring a pistol and a thesaurus,” he quipped.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 5, 2017
Sondheim has been fascinated by the Mizners since he read about Addison, an architect, and his flimflamming brother Wilson in the New Yorker back in the 1950s.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2016
At his press conference he said she was flimflamming the public to get circulation.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
