- [singular] a trick; an act of cheating somebody
- The so-called bargain was just a big con!
- (British English) a con trick
- (North American English) a con game
- He's a real con artist (= a person who regularly cheats others).
Extra ExamplesTopics Crime and punishmentc2- The scheme was all a big con.
- It was all one big con trick.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- big
- game
- trick
- artist
- …
Definitions on the go
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- [countable] a convict (= a person who has been found guilty of a crime and sent to prison)
- Look, I'm an officer, and cons don't speak to me like that, okay?
Word Originnoun sense 1 late 19th cent. (originally US): abbreviation of confidence, as in confidence trick. noun sense 2 late 19th cent.: abbreviation.
Idioms
See con in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarythe pros and cons
- the advantages and disadvantages of something
- We weighed up the pros and cons.
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con