flim-flam

See also: flimflam

English

Alternative forms

flimflam

Etymology

1538 as noun, 1660 as verb. By reduplication. Perhaps from a dialectal word or Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).[1]

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -æm
IPA^(key): /ˈflɪmflæm/

Noun

flim-flam (countable and uncountable, plural flim-flams)

Misinformation; bunkum; false information presented as true.
Most reports of supernatural occurrences turn out to be flim-flam when carefully investigated.
confidence game, con game
(archaic) table tennis

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:nonsense

Derived terms

flim-flam man: Confidence trickster
flam

References

“flim-flam” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Flimflam / Claptrap, The Word Detective, 2009–04–13

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.