parlor game
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of parlor game
First recorded in 1890–95
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.
There was a long-running parlor game during his father’s first term about which of the children would run for president after daddy was done.
From Salon ● May 3, 2026
It’s become a bit of a media-and-tech parlor game to try to estimate exactly what these losses are, on average.
From Slate ● Apr. 14, 2026
Don't call it the "Marty Supreme" effect: table tennis is a growing sport in the United States, in part because of a new professional league giving the parlor game an ultra-competitive edge.
From Barron's ● Mar. 31, 2026
The fact that it was a parlor game, not pointillism, that inspired the lyric is proof of Sondheim’s credo that “playful doesn’t mean trivial any more than solemn means serious.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
The horse even had his own parlor game, the first of at least nine.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
