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Synonyms

fun and games

American  

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

  1. frivolously diverting activity.

fun and games Idioms  

  1. Activity for pure pleasure or diversion. For example, This job isn't all fun and games, you know, or We're just out for fun and games tonight. [Early 1900s]

Etymology

Origin of fun and games

First recorded in 1915–20

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.

Leave the fun and games to the professionals.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2026

Klimpert, who was a partner at Meyer/Glass, said working in a toy-design studio wasn’t fun and games.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 25, 2025

For an overthinker like Bridget Jones, texting is all fun and games until it turns into a battle of love-bombing wits.

From Salon • Feb. 13, 2025

Untrammeled dishonesty is all fun and games until it comes for you.

From Slate • Oct. 11, 2024

“It’s all a game, Goob. Think of it as fun and games. Let them have their fun. Brother Eugene must have been on the borderline, anyway . . “It’s more than fun and games, Jerry.

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

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.