"flim-flam" meaning in English

See flim-flam in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈflɪmflæm/ Audio: En-us-flim-flam.oga Forms: flim-flams [plural]
Rhymes: -æm Etymology: Ultimately a sound-symbolic reduplication, 1538 as noun, 1660 as verb. Perhaps from a dialectal word or North Germanic/Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”). Etymology templates: {{onomatopoeic|en|title=a}} a, {{sound symbolic|en|nocap=1}} sound-symbolic, {{reduplication|en|nocap=1}} reduplication, {{der|en|gmq|-}} North Germanic, {{cog|non|flim||lampoon, mockery}} Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”) Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} flim-flam (countable and uncountable, plural flim-flams)
  1. Misinformation; bunkum; false information presented as true. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: nonsense
    Sense id: en-flim-flam-en-noun-KBy3gojb
  2. confidence game, con game Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-flim-flam-en-noun-54fAPTe- Categories (other): English apophonic reduplications, English entries with incorrect language header, English onomatopoeias, English reduplications, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English apophonic reduplications: 32 64 4 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 31 65 4 Disambiguation of English onomatopoeias: 30 63 6 Disambiguation of English reduplications: 31 64 5 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 31 64 5 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 31 66 3
  3. (archaic) Table tennis. Tags: archaic, countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-flim-flam-en-noun-LZAOm-N7
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: flimflam, flim flam Derived forms: flim-flam man (english: confidence trickster), flam, flim

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "english": "confidence trickster",
      "word": "flim-flam man"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "flam"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "flim"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "title": "a"
      },
      "expansion": "a",
      "name": "onomatopoeic"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "sound-symbolic",
      "name": "sound symbolic"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "reduplication",
      "name": "reduplication"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmq",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "North Germanic",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "flim",
        "3": "",
        "4": "lampoon, mockery"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Ultimately a sound-symbolic reduplication, 1538 as noun, 1660 as verb. Perhaps from a dialectal word or North Germanic/Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flim-flams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "flim-flam (countable and uncountable, plural flim-flams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Most reports of supernatural occurrences turn out to be flim-flam when carefully investigated.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Misinformation; bunkum; false information presented as true."
      ],
      "id": "en-flim-flam-en-noun-KBy3gojb",
      "links": [
        [
          "bunkum",
          "bunkum"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nonsense"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "32 64 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English apophonic reduplications",
          "parents": [
            "Apophonic reduplications",
            "Reduplications",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 65 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "30 63 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English onomatopoeias",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 64 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English reduplications",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 64 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 66 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "confidence game, con game"
      ],
      "id": "en-flim-flam-en-noun-54fAPTe-",
      "links": [
        [
          "confidence game",
          "confidence game"
        ],
        [
          "con game",
          "con game"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "Table tennis."
      ],
      "id": "en-flim-flam-en-noun-LZAOm-N7",
      "links": [
        [
          "Table tennis",
          "table tennis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Table tennis."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflɪmflæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-flim-flam.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/da/En-us-flim-flam.oga/En-us-flim-flam.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/En-us-flim-flam.oga"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "flimflam"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "flim flam"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flim-flam"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English apophonic reduplications",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English onomatopoeias",
    "English reduplications",
    "English sound-symbolic terms",
    "English terms derived from North Germanic languages",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/æm",
    "Rhymes:English/æm/2 syllables"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "english": "confidence trickster",
      "word": "flim-flam man"
    },
    {
      "word": "flam"
    },
    {
      "word": "flim"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "title": "a"
      },
      "expansion": "a",
      "name": "onomatopoeic"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "sound-symbolic",
      "name": "sound symbolic"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "nocap": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "reduplication",
      "name": "reduplication"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmq",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "North Germanic",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "non",
        "2": "flim",
        "3": "",
        "4": "lampoon, mockery"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Ultimately a sound-symbolic reduplication, 1538 as noun, 1660 as verb. Perhaps from a dialectal word or North Germanic/Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flim-flams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "flim-flam (countable and uncountable, plural flim-flams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Most reports of supernatural occurrences turn out to be flim-flam when carefully investigated.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Misinformation; bunkum; false information presented as true."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "bunkum",
          "bunkum"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "nonsense"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "confidence game, con game"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "confidence game",
          "confidence game"
        ],
        [
          "con game",
          "con game"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Table tennis."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Table tennis",
          "table tennis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic) Table tennis."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-æm"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈflɪmflæm/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-us-flim-flam.oga",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/da/En-us-flim-flam.oga/En-us-flim-flam.oga.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/En-us-flim-flam.oga"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "flimflam"
    },
    {
      "word": "flim flam"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flim-flam"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.