Thesaurus results for SHELL GAME

shell game

noun

as in scam

an instance of the use of dishonest methods to acquire something of value it's amazing how intelligent people fall for that investment-fund shell game

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Examples of shell game in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There’s a potential shell game here — in theory, EMTALA is simply a funding condition on hospitals, not a regulatory rule applied to doctors — but at minimum, the Court has enshrined the solicitor general’s situational concessions on the conscience point in a unanimous opinion. —

The Editors, National Review, 14 June 2024 Anybody hear similar sneering now on this latest shell game? —

Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 8 Mar. 2024 Life seemed to be some kind of scam, a little shell game, in which every living thing secretly carried the pain of its own loss. —

Sam Anderson, New York Times, 31 May 2024 As the water rose, staff played a bit of a shell game with its resources, sending some of the water to a balancing pond that’s typically used later in the treatment process and then pumped it back to the beginning of the plant for treatment. —

Stephanie Elam, CNN, 7 Feb. 2024 See all Example Sentences for shell game

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shell game.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.