parlor game

noun

1. any game usually played indoors, especially in the living room or parlor, as a word game or a quiz, requiring little or no physical activity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of parlor game¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Playing a parlor game, he drew a card that asked, “Do you think you have an artistic temperament?”

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A parlor game among attendees was comparing the scores generated by their Oura Ring health trackers, which were generally low given back-to-back meetings during the day and partying well into the night.

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Sheets said, referring to the parlor game where players create elaborate chains of actors who have appeared together on screen.

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“Our democracy is on the line. … And I frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games, when we have a president who is running for reelection. That’s it.”

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“The macabre, like the spiritual smudges and tarot, all those Victorian parlor games are definitely coming back into fashion,” she says.

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Related Words

• board game