Meaning & use
flim flam
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountabledisapproving
Talk or ideas that sound impressive but are empty, foolish or meant to mislead.
Grammar: No plural: a lot of flim flam.
Patterns
- a load of flim flam
His speech was nothing but flim flam about synergy.
Don't believe the flim flam in that advert.
The report was flim flam dressed up as research.
nouncountable or uncountableinformal
A trick or swindle in which someone is cheated, especially with smooth talk.
Grammar: Often used as a mass noun, but a flim flam can mean one scam.
Patterns
- a flim flam man
The investment turned out to be a flim flam.
He lost his savings to a flim flam man.
The whole scheme was a clever flim flam.
verbtransitiveinformalold-fashioned
To cheat or deceive someone with a clever trick or false talk.
Grammar: Takes an object: flim flam the customers.
Patterns
- flim flam someone
They flim flammed the old couple out of their savings.
He tried to flim flam his way into the club.
The salesman flim flammed her into a useless warranty.
Word forms
| third person singular | flim flams |
|---|---|
| past tense | flim flammed |
| -ing form | flim flamming |
Common combinations
- flim flam man
- The flim flam man promised miracle cures.
- a load of flim flam
- The brochure was a load of flim flam.
- flim flam artist
- The flim flam artist vanished with the deposits.
- nothing but flim flam
- His excuses were nothing but flim flam.
- pure flim flam
- The theory is pure flim flam.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nonsense
- Nonsense says only that something is silly; flim flam adds an idea of deception.
- humbug
- Humbug is older and mixes insincerity with empty talk.
- hogwash
- Hogwash is blunt dismissal, with no sense of a trick.
- scam
- Scam refers to the fraud itself, not the empty talk around it.
Opposites
Word family
- flimflammer noun
- Someone who cheats using flim flam.
- flimflammery noun
- The practice of such trickery.
Commonly confused: flim flam or flimsy?
flim flam vs flimsy
Flimsy means weak or thin, and is not about trickery.
Practice
The salesman's promises turned out to be mere ___ meant to hide the truth.
Choose one answer.
Flim flam means misleading empty talk. Evidence and research would support the truth rather than hide it.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “flim flam”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.