Also called monte bank. a gambling game played with a 40-card pack in which players bet that one of two layouts, each consisting of two cards drawn from either the top or bottom of the deck and turned face up, will be matched in suit by the next card turned up.
a gambling card game of Spanish origin
informal a certainty
1815–25; < Spanish: mountain, hence, heap (of cards); see mount 2
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But these dynamics are uncertain in a play that treats identity like a game of three-card monte.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2024
If you see anyone playing three-card monte or a shell game, just keep walking.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 28, 2023
Activists at the time raised the alarm as they treated burns on animals displaced by the fires, including monitos del monte, - small nocturnal marsupials - and pudus, the world's smallest deer.
From Reuters ● Jul. 13, 2023
The old three card monte guys in New York had to wait for people to walk around.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2023
Yakov won the first two games, but when it came time to find the Lady at three-card monte, he uncovered a worthless heart.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Alejandro, 13, said that the sight of his father’s red and black Monte Carlo parked outside of their family home “just makes me miss him a lot.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
Since its founding in 1916, the 1-square-mile town has used directional descriptors — City Hall is on the east side of Monte Verde Street between Ocean and 7th avenues — instead of building numbers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Intesa and Monte dei Paschi shares are little moved.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
In April, he obliterated a racquet after losing 6-0 6-0 at the Monte Carlo Masters and was again fined for unsportsmanlike conduct.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Then I looked in one of my cupboards for the little portable iron I used to have in Monte Carlo for Mrs. Van Hopper’s dresses.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
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