foul play

American  

noun

1. any treacherous or unfair dealing, especially involving murder.

   We feared that he had met with foul play.

2. unfair conduct in a game.

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foul play British  

noun

1. unfair or treacherous conduct esp with violence

2. a violation of the rules in a game or sport

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foul play Idioms  

1. Unfair or treacherous action, especially involving violence. For example, The police suspected he had met with foul play. This term originally was and still is applied to unfair conduct in a sport or game and was being used figuratively by the late 1500s. Shakespeare used it in The Tempest (1:2): “What foul play had we, that we came from thence?”

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Etymology

Origin of foul play

First recorded in 1600–10

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foul play

The sheriff’s department has not been able to determine how the man entered the waterway, but no foul play is suspected at this point.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026

Balogun, 25, was dismissed for serious foul play against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last 32 and should have received an automatic suspension.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

It was classed as serious foul play, meaning the Bayer Leverkusen player was handed an extra match on top of the automatic one-game suspension by Fifa's disciplinary committee.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

While no cause of death was given, police said that “no foul play is suspected,” and that law enforcement found his body while performing a welfare check.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

But Dell knew in his heart that the twelve-year-old hadn't met with any kind of foul play.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan