shell game
Americannoun
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a sleight-of-hand swindling game resembling thimblerig but employing walnut shells or the like instead of thimblelike cups.
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any deceit, swindle, fraud, or the like.
noun
Etymology
Origin of shell game
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
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 was a shell game so profitable that no one had any interest in naming it.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
The 82-page suit on behalf of Leadenhall Capital Partners claimed that the owners were “operating a giant shell game at best, and an outright Ponzi scheme at worst.”
From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2024
“It’s a shell game and there’s no way to enforce this stuff because it’s all an algorithm in a black box — how we’re paid and whether or not we get benefits,” Moore said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2024
The tradwives claiming otherwise on social media are playing a shell game.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2023
Each had a sea sponge underneath, like a rigged shell game.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
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.
