mug's game
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of mug's game
First recorded in 1905–10
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.
In a 2006 interview with BBC Radio 4, he told Patrick Humphries that he had come to the conclusion that writing was "a mug's game" and he didn't miss it.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
You are comparing yourself to others, and that’s a mug’s game.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2025
As I’ve written in the past, taking Moore as some sort of economic truth-teller is a mug’s game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
Predicting the outcome of national elections can be a mug's game.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2023
"I reckon bein' on the land is a mug's game; scrapin' like a fool when a feller could be sittin' in an office an' gettin' all they want twice as easy."
From Some Everyday Folk and Dawn by Miles Franklin
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
