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.
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
The scene where the quartet plays their pre-wedding parlor game occurs about 25 minutes into Borgli’s film, and is ripe with instrumental, pre-twist subtext.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 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
A favorite futurist parlor game involves estimating the percentage of online content currently generated by machines.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026
By the middle of the nineteenth century, a popular parlor game is "reading" one's character by feeling the skull for bumps and dips and then matching them to a head chart such as this one.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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.
