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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Recent Examples of shell game
The grand jury’s focus was the shell game played with $10 million that rightfully belonged to the Florida Medicaid program.
—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2026
Nate Davis had some thoughts after McDermott was fired, writing that the NFL's coaching carousel has devolved into an absurd shell game.
—Jim Reineking, USA Today, 23 Jan. 2026
Expedia played a shell game with your money, wasted your time with useless chatbots and ignored paper trails.
—Christopher Elliott, Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2026
Budget shell games, in other words.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shell game
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2026
Nate Davis had some thoughts after McDermott was fired, writing that the NFL's coaching carousel has devolved into an absurd shell game.
—Jim Reineking, USA Today, 23 Jan. 2026
Expedia played a shell game with your money, wasted your time with useless chatbots and ignored paper trails.
—Christopher Elliott, Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2026
Budget shell games, in other words.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shell game
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shell game
scam
Noun
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In addition to depriving the government, the scam also hurt small businesses that needed access to government funds to avoid shutting their doors and laying off employees at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, DHS said.—
Preston Mizell , Louis Casiano,
FOXNews.com,
24 Apr. 2026
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All deliver explicit pornography and, in at least one case, a scam site falsely claiming a visitor’s computer is infected and advising the visitor to pay a fee for the non-existent malware to be removed.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shell game.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shell%20game. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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