| Main Entry: | con game |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | confidence game |
Synonyms: |
Ponzi, bait-and-switch, boiler room, bunco game, bunko, con, con job, confidence trick, flimflam, hustle, racket, rip-off, shell game, skin game, sting, swindle |
| Main Entry: | cheat |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
Synonyms: |
artifice, baloney, bamboozlement, bill of goods, bunco, chicanery, con, con game, cover up, cozening, deceit, deception, dirty pool, dirty trick, dodge, double-dealing, fake, fast one, fast shuffle, fix, flimflam, frame, fraud, gyp, hanky-panky, hoax, hoaxing, humbug, hustle, imposture, jazz, jive, plant, put-on, racket, rip-off, run around, scam, sell, shady deal, sham, shell game, snow job, spoof, sting, stunt, swindle, trickery, whitewash, wrong |
| Main Entry: | collusion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | secret understanding, often with intent to defraud |
Synonyms: |
bait and switch, bill of goods, bunco, cahoots, complicity, con game, connivance, conspiracy, craft, deceit, diddling, dodge, double-cross, fast shuffle, flam, flimflam, fradulent artifice, graft, guilt, guiltiness, gyp, intrigue, plot, racket, scam, scheme, shell game, skunk, sting*, trick, whitewash |
| Notes: | cooperation is always positive, collaboration is positive except in wartime (working with the enemy), and collusion is always negative (working together in secret for a dishonest purpose) |
| Main Entry: | deception |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
Synonyms: |
artifice, bilk, bluff, catch, cheat, chicane, con, con game, confidence game, cover-up, crock, decoy, device, dodge, fallacy, fast one, fast shuffle, feint, fib, fraud, gimmick, hoax, hogwash, hustle, illusion, imposture, jive, lie, malarkey, mare's-nest, pretext, ride*, ruse, scam, sham, shift, shuck, snare, snow job, stall, sting, story, stratagem, subterfuge, swindle, trap, trick, whitewash, wile, wrinkle |
| Main Entry: | grift |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | swindle |
Synonyms: |
cheating, con game, confidence game, deceit, dirty pool, double-dealing, extortion, fix, fraud, racket, rip-off, scam, shady deal, shell game, stealing, sting, trickery |
| Main Entry: | hoax |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | trick |
Synonyms: |
cheat, cock-and-bull story, con game, con*, crock, deceit, deception, dodge, fabrication, fake, falsification, fast one, fast shuffle, fib, flimflam, fraud, gimmick, gyp, hooey, humbug, hustle, imposture, joke, lie, practical joke, prank, put-on, racket, ruse, scam, sell, shift, snow job, spoof, sting, swindle, whopper |
| Main Entry: | humbug |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | hoax |
Synonyms: |
con game, con*, deceit, fast one, flimflam, fraud, gyp, hustle, prank, put-on, scam, snow job, spoof, sting, swindle |
| Main Entry: | lure |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | bait |
Synonyms: |
allurement, ambush, appeal, attraction, bribe, call, camouflage, carrot, come-on, con game, decoy, delusion, draw, enticement, fake, gimmick, hook, illusion, incentive, inducement, inveiglement, invitation, magnet, mousetrap, pull, seducement, seduction, siren song, sitting duck, snare, sweetener, temptation, tout, trap, trick |
Antonyms: |
deterrent, warning |
| Main Entry: | racket |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | criminal activity |
Synonyms: |
cheating, con game, confidence game, conspiracy, corruption, crime, dirty pool, dishonesty, dodge, extortion, fraud, game, graft, illegality, illicit scheme, intrigue, lawlessness, lay, plot, push, scheme, shakedown, squeeze*, swindle, swindling, theft, trick, underworld |
| Main Entry: | scam |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | swindle |
Synonyms: |
blackmail, cheating, con, con game, crooked deal, deceit, deception, dirty pool, double-cross, double-dealing, extortion, fast one, flimflam, fraud, hoax, hosing, hustle, racket, rip-off, shady deal, shakedown, sham, shell game, snow job, sting, sucker game |