Meaning & use
flimflam
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Meanings
noununcountableinformalold-fashioned
Talk or claims that are empty, misleading, or meant to impress, with no real substance.
Grammar: Uncountable: a lot of flimflam.
The brochure was pure flimflam, full of promises and no facts.
He dismissed the candidate's speech as flimflam.
Don't be fooled by the flimflam on the label.
nouncountableinformalold-fashioned
A trick or scheme for cheating someone out of money.
Grammar: Countable: a flimflam, several flimflams.
Patterns
- a flimflam artist
The investment was a flimflam from start to finish.
Police broke up a flimflam targeting elderly residents.
He ran a flimflam selling worthless land.
verbtransitiveinformalold-fashioned
To cheat or fool someone using deceptive talk.
Grammar: Takes an object: flimflam the customers.
Patterns
- flimflam someone out of something
The salesman tried to flimflam her out of her savings.
They were flimflammed by a fake charity.
Don't let anyone flimflam you into signing.
Word forms
| plural | flimflams |
|---|---|
| third person singular | flimflams |
| past tense | flimflammed |
| past participle | flimflammed |
| -ing form | flimflamming |
Common combinations
- pure flimflam
- The whole offer was pure flimflam.
- flimflam artist
- The flimflam artist vanished with the deposits.
- flimflam man
- A flimflam man came to town selling miracle cures.
- political flimflam
- Voters are tired of political flimflam.
- flimflam someone out of money
- He flimflammed tourists out of their money.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hokum
- Hokum is similar nonsense, but it often implies cheap, exaggerated sentiment or drama.
- swindle
- Swindle is a plain word for a financial scam and has no jokey tone.
- bunkum
- Bunkum means empty claims, especially in public speech, and lacks the sense of a trick.
- con
- Con is the modern everyday word for a trick, whereas flimflam sounds more old-fashioned and playful.
Opposites
Word family
- flimflammer noun
- a person who cheats using deceptive talk
- flimflammery noun
- deceptive talk or trickery
- flam noun
- an older word for a trick or deception
Commonly confused: flimflam or flamboyant? flimflam or flimsy?
flimflam vs flamboyant
Flamboyant means showy and confident, but it does not suggest deception.
flimflam vs flimsy
Flimsy means weak or thin, and can describe an excuse, but it does not mean a deliberate trick.
Practice
The 'miracle' product turned out to be nothing but ___; it did nothing it promised.
Choose one answer.
Flimflam is misleading talk or a scheme meant to fool people. The other words are real words but have unrelated meanings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “flimflam”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.